Reformatted, Expanded, Written and Edited by MarkEAW

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CONTENTS

INTRO

TYPICAL INSTALL

1.60 and Back | v1.60 | v1.50

v1.40 | v1.40 ChangeLog

v1.30 | v1.29 | v1.28f

v1.28e_Fixes | v1.28e | v1.28 Series Feature List

v1.28d | v1.28c Fixes | v1.28c

v1.28b | v1.28a | v1.28aV47a ChangeLog | v1.28

1.2x

This is a custom detail document where the original update readme's have been drastically edited and reformatted. Original readme Documentation for v1.28e and above was not available, however some helpful information and text from MrJelly and others have provided highlights about v1.29 and up. The other information on those later versions came from scattered forum posts by some of the other people that helped with the revisions in the past. However this Help Document lacks details pertaining to the changes completely done with 1.60 and up, due to the fact that it became too difficult to track down information without anymore help from MrJelly (The sole "programmer" of UAW). Its not based on my research habits but the CodeGroups missing readme doc files in their latest versions. Any help by contacting me to fill in the gaps is appreciated in advanced. Any ? question mark found in this Help Document is lacking info I do not have, that I know should be there.

The CodeGroup is an independent group of people that have a closed source code with the current build of the unofficial UAW. If visiting the few EAW community supported forums, you may run into some of the members and you may find a few to be bullies and/or very touchy people when it comes to pointing out any issue they don't like to be made publicly aware. Typically bad feedback. Unfortunately many of the original thinking people involved have since left the group, thus leaving a rag tag team holding code, tools and modding information at bay. Making it impossible for anyone to mod for these later un-official EAW versions done by the Code-Group people. (Note: Most of the new editing and conversion tools are not publicly available, therefore you can not up convert v1.2 add-ons to the newer 'formats' on your own, so it's hard for one not in the CodeGroup to mod the game correctly and effectively.) On an occasion the group members have helped community authors mod their version of the game for them. But most prominent is the desire for the Code Group members to mod themselves rather than show how it's done, thus adding data to the UAW. MrJelly suggests you ask him [them] to do it for you. However, you can easily test your own add-ons on versions below 1.29 as they still support the main game folder "Drop-and-Play" designed by the MicroProse EAW Team, just not all current UAW game modding additions are available, so there is a limitation when doing it yourself).

The first version produced by the Code Group after they obtained the 'full' source code (pieced together from original programmers in 2005) was 1.28. That rapidly went through 1.28a-e, 1.28f. Then after some time, 1.29 was introduced, which was the last, more or less, backward compatible version. Then there was some quick additions through 1.30 to the current 1.40. (1.28f/1.29 where developed in parallel with 1.30/1.40 and include those additions). Some of the more early Source code modifications are compatible with the stock game and community add-ons, but it all depends on the custom version your using. (v1.28e was the first eaw.exe to use the 'New Separate Folders System', the complex but apparently ideal way to help mod for the game. You no longer drop every fan created add-ons into the main game folder, like you would in EAWv1.2. v1.29 made use of this new folder system even more so, changes where made to improve further modding.)  If you want to use v1.2 community add-on files, stick with under v1.29.

These Code Group download archives; the UAW versions are independent source code modifications and game data upgrade which overcome many of the modding limitations of the original game. Still using a 'New Separated Folders System', however, modified for use with the current version of UAW. Includes many community made add-ons, including new high resolution Skins and many new Sounds. Some new custom game data is included were necessary from time to time to improve the game even further. Most new additions to the game; The campaigns and game data files included are adapted; up converted from the past old time EAW community authors from 1998 to mid 2000s and beyond, to work with the new source coded versions. They also include original registered MicroProse Software game data files from the CD and the official patches, effectively not a patch, but a standalone UAW game download(s).

The useful versions that are maintained by MrJelly today (2018) are:
(write in to help me update this!)

• v1.28c is the end of its line. (The earlier versions should not be considered as usable: 1.28, 1.28a and 1.28b they are now redundant as everything they contain is in the c version.) Also something to note is that v1.28c still uses 640x480 screens and menus, so it is much simpler to adapt the old v1.2 campaigns to use it.
• v1.28e and future exes use 1024x768 screens. It has so many improvements such as the possibility of building individual planesets. Those planesets are not backward compatible, and with them, this makes it really a new version of EAW. (v1.28d is also redundant, as it is a version of 1.28c which uses 1024x768 screens and menus).
• v1.29 uses more of the custom planesets, but your not yet forced to use the new folder system until v1.30.
• v1.60 ... (v1.30 is redundant. v1.40 and v1.50 are practically redundant). (The original official MPS Single Mission and Career games may be playable with only the default campaign and the default plane set, ETO).
  
  In years after there initial releases , now in and after 2015, early versions such as v1.28c, v1.28e, 1.28F and 1.29 have had their eaw.exe updated (including some game data fixes/additions) done by MrJelly. However the information on those updates is lacking in this document as what is known by me is too thin to write here, due to Jel (or other members) not having time / wanting to contribute.

A typical file provided by the CodeGroup / Jel requires "installing". Most users should at least read my 'Install Help Document' to get an idea on how to install and do some specific steps of setup on a WindowsOS. This is regardless of the EAW unofficial build version used / or the game data files used. Most of the older versions of UAW have install instructions. Newer releases mainly by MrJelly (after 2012) have not included readme instructions.

Typically Jel has offered the CodeGroups build of UAW as a 7z file, either self extracting or requires the 7-zip program to un pack the files. Sometimes you can download a single file for a complete game or download multiple files to dump into a single game folder to form the game itself.

Also, you may (most likely) need the old WinXP Visual Basic 6 Runtime files that may still be provided by Microsoft. If not check with MrJelly to see if he has them. (Do not over write any newer version of the runtimes your computer may have already)... The older Runtime files are for the lengthy front-end that MrJelly has programmed to configure and launch UAW, primarily for the custom content. This is due to the built in EAW front-end menu screens being difficult to program for...

See MrJelly for further details.
You may find updated -how to- instructions from him.

Here's a list that includes changes made as far back as v1.28 and up to the current 1.60 (10-26-2018). Most of the changes listed here where done before version 1.29.

Features accumulated (In 160 Special  10-26-2018) and from earlier exe versions. (It does not address any features of the 160 installation packages which include theater and aircraft files):
 

• Gun convergence for aircraft with wing mounted guns.
   
• Formation routines that allow heavy bombers to take off in groundstarted missions.
  Four engined bombers can do ground-starts without colliding with each other.
   
• Host only playing. You can launch a multiplayer game and play with yourself.
  This may sound crazy, but it enables a modder to test the mods in multiplayer mode, and as an alternative to single missions it allows some choices which are not available in single mission mode.
   
• Parachute drops of supplies or paratroops.
   
• Expansion of the possibilities with the railway files.
  Invisible railway lines which allow the setting up of sea and land convoys running on invisible tracks, constantly changing direction. A "flag" system determines whether or not a railway track graphic is rendered. If it is then the value of the flag determines the graphic to be used. This gives the possibilities of vehicle convoys running on roads, and ship convoys running on invisible railway lines which can change direction.
  Other files relating to the "flag" contain a list of the MGOs to be used in the convoy make-up, plus the speed, the number of columns, and the spacing. One result is having tug-boats and barge convoys on rivers, such as the Thames, the Seine and the Elbe.
  In one theatre we have three standard width plus one narrow gauge track running in parallel between London and the Midlands. Trains run in opposite directions, and there can be many of them.
   
• Ship convoys, and railway interdictions
  A "convoys.dat" file lists the port, an the start and the endpoint of a convoy associated with it.
  Ship convoy interdictions are no longer dependent on the port having a shipyard.
  Railway interdictions are no longer dependent on the target having a railyard. The nearest railway section to the selected target is used to determine the spawn point of the train.
   
• Convoy makeup associated with convoy ports.
  If Dover is one of the ports listed in "Convoys.dat" there can be a "Dover.con" file listing 10 different ship types that are to be used in the convoy make-up. This allows ius to have different convoys from different ports.
   
• Working aircraft carriers.
  An Additional runway type which now allow the player to take off from an aircraft carrier which has a raised deck with the carrier situated on a genuine water tile. The decks are 64 feet above the sea, you can take off from them or land on them without the need for a special tile, and so can the AI planes.
   
• Floatplanes and amphibians
  Values in flight data files can define a plane as a floatplane or an amphibian.
  Floatplanes can only take off from or land on water. Floatplanes like the Rufe that can take off from water. Amphibious aircraft like the Catalina that can take off from both water and land.
   
• Some small theatres like "Little BoB" that use a reduced tilemap and are not locked into 640x480
   
• 1024x768 selection screens
  Including allied and axis aircraft selection screens which list all flyable planes for single mission selection.
   
• More terrain tiles and flexible tile maps.
  The TM2 system which allows for hundreds of terrain tiles instead of the old maximum of 64. The eaw.tm file with 1 byte per tile has been replaced by the eaw32.tm file with 4 bytes per tile. This creates the possibility of having 1000s of terrain tiles. The "new map" versions of the exe can cope with a terrain map of any size. Other versions are locked into 640x320
   
• Additional TMods
  There are three other varieties of TMod.
  TMogs are the Axis version of the TMod files, and would be displayed (if present) in Axis territory.
  TMoFs and TMgFs are the Allied and Axis versions of the TMod, which are displayed when the position is close to the frontline.
  So, although I said that we could use up to 1000 TMods, it is effectively up to 4000.
  The theatre maker only needs to position the TMod. The exe will determine which one to use if they are present. If not, the default TMod will be displayed.
   
• Up to 1000 different TMods, with different versions for allied/axis and frontline types.
   
• Seasonal terrains - the one used depends on the mission date.
   
• Time/date setting for single missions.
  You can set the time over the target (hour and minute) based on the date and information the time of sunrise and sunset on that day. It is no longer dawn, day, dusk night or random. Time and date; When setting up missions in both single mission and multiplayer mode it is possible to set the exact time and date of the mission. When the date has been selected the times of sunrise and sunset are displayed. This allows the player to set times which give a mission with those lovely early morning and late evening skies.
   
• A new MSN file system used by the "160Special" exes.
  This gives you preset single missions with no screens, and uses some data that is not used in normal single missions. You can make new ones with the mission editor.
   
• Better graphics possibilities
  Additional 3dz file types
  Use of BMP files for skins an terrain, with thousands of colours not just 256.
  The possibility of using 512x512 graphics files and higher detail; 512x512 bitmap graphics files for terrain tiles, aircraft skins and TMods.
  Multiskins with individual squadron aircraft
  Ability to use Glide3
   
• Hard coded data tables in the 1.2 exe put into editable external files
  These include TMod data, convoy data, terrain tile data and formation data. This allows files to be edited, or even created.
  As a result the 160 exe can cope with a maximum of 1000 TMods, and each TMod type can have its own specific data file. Such as TMod.dat", "Frmations.dat" and "Convoys.dat" so that they can be adapted to suit the theatre. There are also additional runway types, and individual "dat" files for a single TMod, such as "TMod129.dat".
   
• The use of the "Dir.set" system to reference files needed for theatres and aircraft.
   
• No 30 plane data files
  This was a massive breakthrough. Each aircraft has its own files containing flight and skin data. It made real planesets possible.
   
• The "aircraft inventory" and "Planeset" folder system
  Currently I have two folders containing 45157 and 21475 skin and flight data files.
  Individual folders in these two folders are referenced by the 160 exe when it reads the "Pdir.set" and "FMdir.set" files to get the flight and skin data for the game.
  These files are provided in the support file downloads, but experienced users can make their own.
   
• Weapons.
  The "weapons.dat/str" files accommodate 100 weapons. Values in the data file determine the type of behavior.
  Some "bombs" released are parachute bombs which fall gently and explode when they hit the ground.
  Others are paratroopers, which spawn into soldiers when they hit the ground.
  Other "bombs" behave as torpedoes, or skip across the water, or bounce as the "Upkeep" mine did.
  The exe can handle an extended range of aircraft guns, including gunpods, "Shrage Musik" and revolver cannon.
  Flak rate of fire and accuracy is adjustable by an ini setting.
   
• Almost 100 different weapon types
  Which include working torpedoes, skipbombs and bouncing bombs.
  The torpedo mission is one of the additional interdiction types we have introduced. You can be a dam buster if you want to try. The additional interdiction types include the possibility of a torpedo strike on ships.
  AI torpedo aircraft in a torpedo mission, or as the escorted planes in an escort mission fly at the appropriate altitude and speed when approaching their target.
   
• Many choices for multiplayer settings
  Other versions have multiplayer code based on selecting an area, and a few other limited choices.
  1.60 allows the selection of the actual target, the home base of the host (and friendly primary planes), and the home bases of the friendly secondary, enemy primary and enemy secondary aircraft.
  It allows the friendly secondary, enemy primary and enemy secondary aircraft types to be selected, whilst retaining the possibility of each player selecting his or her own aircraft.
  Aircraft altitudes can also be set.
   
• Multiplayer and flight modeling.
  The ability to re-arm at a friendly airfield in multiplayer
  Host-only multiplayer missions- great for testing new theatres
  Multiplayer groundstart free-for-all games with no vulching
  Less restrictive time acceleration, even up to 40x
  The flight modeling system is able to handle late bi-panes to early jets. AI planes will land on carriers and park correctly.
  Counter rotating propellers are supported, and work correctly.
   
• MPF and other files
  There are a number of these, and they do the following things:
  Set the allied and axis capitals
  Set the virtual cockpit viewpoints
  Set the values shown in the year display (as opposed to 1940, 1943, 1944 and 1945)
  Set the engine sounds for individual planes
  Set the cruise altitude for different years and different plane types (bomber, fighter etc)
  Allow or disallow the WW1 take-off style
  Allow or disallow the use of the "Seasons" folder which has five different terrain sets for Spring, Summer, Autumn, light Winter and hard Winter. The one to be used depends on the mission date.
  Set the color of tracers of different caliber.
  Allow or disallow interdiction types. If a theatre is entirely land based there may be no need for ship/warship convoy interdictions.
  Turn frontline explosions on or off.
  Set values for Flak data.
  Set the make-up of ship, warship, truck and armored convoys.
  Color setting for map icons
   
• Surprise aircraft.
  Both random enemy and friendly aircraft can be scrambled when you fly close to a base.
  For this to happen two ini settings need to be made ("EnemyEncounter" and "FriendlyEncounter"). Setting the value to 1 or more turns them on.
  It only happens once in a game, so if a squad of 110Cs scrambles when you fly close to an Axis base you do not get even more when you fly close to the next Axis base.
   
• Flare and smoke with engine starts.

Here I (MrJelly) elaborate (10-31-2018) on the use of "mpf" and other files in the 1.28 series up to 160. (MPF files are text files containing numerical data which the exe reads).

"CapSet.mpf"
Sets the allied and axis capitals from their values in "targets.dat"
They determine the sides of the frontline.

"bulletcolor.mpf"
Set the colors of tracers based on calibre. There are 4 values.

"CruiseAlt.mpf"
Sets the cruise altitude values for the four EAW years
It has 12 numerical values for the following altitudes in feet:

1940_low
1940_med
1940_high
1943_low
1943_med
1943_high
1944_low
1944_med
1944_high
1945_low
1945_med
1945_high

"BumpVal.mpf"
Lists the tile numbers which have a corresponding bump tile with the number of the tile, or a value of -1 when there is no corresponding bump tile.

"Bounce.mpf"
Sets the height of the bounce and the run of the bouncing bomb

"Catapult.mpf"
This is a recent addition which sets data for a catapult launch with accelerated take-off speed.

"Border.mpf"
Another rarely used recent addition which defines the border width of a target map graphic that has a border.
Not many have one.

"Interdict.mpf"
This has six values (0 or 1) that turn interdiction types on or off.
For example it might be used with an entirely land based theatre to prevent the player from choosing a ship or warship interdiction.

"Torpedo.mpf"
A cheat file for the modder.
Normally a torpedo must be released at a height of 100 feet or less and a speed of 160 mph. Otherwise the torpedo sinks and disappears.
It is a PITA to get this right when you are testing a plane with a torpedo, so the values in this file allow the modder to release at greater height and peed to check that things are working.

"TrainChance.mpf"
This has a value from 0 to 255 which is the probability of a train convoy spawning.
In some theatres too many trains may spawn, and this file can be used to reduce the frequency. A value of 64 would give a 1 in 4 chance of a new train convoy spawning.

"Rotation.mpf" sets the horizontal an vertical rotation speed for some rotating TMod, such as searchlights.

"TList00.mpf" .... "TList99.mpf"
These files are used with the "render" flags of railway sections in "EAW_RRD.dat"
If it finds a render flag of "5" the exe reads "TList05.mpf"
The file should have 19 items. This is a copy of a "TList00.mpf"

45
48
46
49
45
45
49
47
45
46
43
44
8
10
16
43
2
0
1
**********
19 items

vehicle0
vehicle1
vehicle2
vehicle3
vehicle4
vehicle5
vehicle6
vehicle7
vehicle8
vehicle9
vehicle10: Two extra vehicles added here for engine and tender
vehicle11
Convoy size s
Convoy size m
Convoy size l
Convoy speed (knots)
Convoy additional spacing (feet)
Column spacing(feet)
Number of columns(feet)

The first 12 values are TMod numbers of the vehicles making up the convoy, and for real trains the 11th is the engine and the 12th is the tender.
Only the first 19 values are read, the rest is for the information of the modder.

 

PRESENCE files are ones that the exe just checks to see if they are there.
They are not read and contain no data.

"NoWW1TO" prevents the WW1 type of scramble take off from occurring.
It is used in SPAW and other theatres that use carriers.

"NoFL_Explode" prevents the explosions close to the front line from occurring.
Ralf introduced these, but they can be a problem in multiplayer theatres designed for groundstarts with bases deliberately set close to the front line.

"NoMiniPics" turns off the display of minipics in single mission parameters.

"UseSeasons" turns on the use of the five seasonal terrain sub-folders in the "Seasons" folder. The terrain used depends on the date of the mission.
It is good with ETO based theatres.

"NoHangars" allows a multiplayer pilot to re-fuel and re-arm after landing safely at a friendly base.
Normally the pilot needs to pull up close to a hangar, but in some theatres a number of bases have no hangars, and that is when this file is useful.

Older files associated with convoys

These all contain 10 items which are TMod numbers of the items in the convoy.
They are used for ship, warship, tank and truck interdictions.

Truck interdictions use "TrukList.mpf"
Ship interdictions use "ShipList.mpf"
Warship interdictions use "Warlist.mpf"
Tank interdictions use "Armlist.mpf"

"Trnlist.mpf" is redundant in 160 because the old "train" interdiction was replaced by "mixed" to allow sea convoys to invisible railway lines using the previously mentioned "TList00.mpf".. "TList99.mpf" files.

"ShipList.mpf" is the default file for a ship interdiction, but there is a neat variation. If I decide to do a ship interdiction at Dover the exe will look for a "Dover.con" file. If one exists the exe will use it instead of "ShipList.mpf". The file strucure is the same, but this system allows each port listed in "convoys.dat" to have its individual convoy file.

[END 1.60 and Back]

UAW160 ("Universal Air Wars", As its known due to the fact that there are many more theatres included , rather then just the ETO or European)

The "Aircraft_Inventory" folder will contain 28114 files in 1154 folders, and it will get larger when adding in Ray's new stuff. The "LongDirSets" folder contains links to 13 theatres, and there are more on the way.

The External Front-end Mission Editor allows you to load the planeset, theatre and mission data for a number of different missions in different theatres. With a bit more know how you can use it to make your own missions.

• 160Special Version
  
  Several data items in .MSN files which were there, but unused in the 1.2 version, have been made use of in the 160Special exes. These exes read the new custom made loaded MSN file and start a single mission almost instantly.
  
  The only screens used are the pilot map screen and the debriefing screen at the end of the mission. There are no Menu Screens used, this is to benefit people who still have corrupt map and menu screens when trying to configured a game to run.

• New MSN File system:
  
  A new MSN file system used by the "160Special" exes.
  This gives you preset single missions with no screens, and uses some data that is not used in normal single missions. You can make new ones with the mission editor.
  
  The new MSN file system we use in 160 special is based on the 1.2 version with changes.
  The bytes relating to mission data are exactly in the same places as they were in the 1.2 version.
  The file has been extended, so the short description which was early in the old file is no longer used.
  The version and CRC check is disabled in the exes that use these files.
  
  The extended part has:
  The theatre at byte 401 (counting from 1 and not zero)
  The planeset at byte 465
  A description starting at byte 529 including the year, mission type, target, base and aircraft involved.
  Multiplayer friendly secondary, enemy primary and enemy secondary bases at bytes 721 to 726
  The whole file is 800 bytes as opposed to the 1.2 version which is 400 bytes.

• Some text from the latest 160 exe (5-06-2018) which is an accumulated list
  
  // NoMiniPics added
  // Normal Version but multiplayer bug in previous versions fixed
  // ord files made three digit
  // comp gunsight at level zero
  // checking instant mission params
  // map border done
  // Torpedo flag set to TypeNum and not image in weapons.c
  // DoTorpRun activated
  // ShipStrike min altitude 3200
  // has_torpedo routine fixed in plane_ai.c
  // 3DPlanes.c rocket flare re-enabled
  // Old set_release_store put back in weapons.c
  // Parachute code from 140 added
  // Torp release made at 1200 feet
  // Bounce path a sine curve
  // No strafe the water after the bomb
  // Able to turn AAA off
  // BigBattles left on for multiplayer and hopefully transmitted
  // Bug causing exploding cargo fixed
  // Stop explosions at front line
  // Several railway code improvements
  // Multiplayer AI planes reinstated
  // Pilot map toggled
  // Y print restriction on debrief kill list removed
  
  
  Some mpf files. They are really text files which contain numeric values:
  
  "CapSet.mpf "
  contains the number of the friendly and enemy target capitals in targets.dat.
  This sets the enemy and friendly territory sides of the frontline
  
  "Bounce.mpf "
  sets the initial bounce height and maximum run of a bouncing bomb
  
  "Border.mpf"
  sets the width of a border on TargetMap.pic
  
  "TargetColour.mpf"
  sets the colour used to draw the selectable targets and bases on the TargetMap.pic in single mission selection
  
  "Interdict.mpf "
  uses a zero or 1 to disable/enable interdiction types.
  There is no point in allowing ship interdictions in the case of a theatre that has no water.
  
  "Torpedo.mpf"
  is a cheat file to allow a torpedoes to be released from a large height and at a fast speed.
  It was done to enable easier testing that the torpedo code is working.
  
  "TrainChance.mpf"
  has a value from 0 to 255 to set the probability of trains being spawned.
  Sometimes there appears to be too many
  
  "Rotation.mpf"
  sets the horizontal and vertical rotation speed for things like windmill sails and searchlights
  
  "Presence" files. These contain no data but cause things to happen/not happen if the exe detect the presence of the file in the root or theatre folder:
  
  "NoWW1TO"
  stops the WW1 and BoB fighter take off spread across the field and keeps planes on the runway. Essential with carriers.
  
  "NoFL_Explode"
  stops Ralf's explosions close to the frontline from happening.
  Used in multiplayer theatres set up for groundstarts
  
  "UseSeasons"
  forces the exe to use the seasonal terrains in the "seasons" folder.
  It saves having to have multiple seasons folders
  
  "NoMiniPics"
  disables the display of minipics, but puts the name of the selected aircraft in the minipic boxes on the single mission parameters screen.
  Many skins in the Aircraft_Inventory do not have a minipic.
  
  
  
   
• New Weapons
  
  New Weapons (system?) upped the need for a new version of the game... ??. 160 has a very large range of weapons. Uses weapons files from the "GameData" folder rather than the "SaveData" folder that v1.50 uses.
  
  
   
• Flak Settings:
  The settings for heavy flak are in the eaw.ini file (as seen in v1.28a), and the settings for light flak can be read by the exe from a "FlakData.mpf" file. If there is no "FlakData.mpf" file then default values are used (see v1.28a).
  The new v1.60 exe now also reads the heavy flak data from the new "FlakData.mpf" file (in gamedata folder), which has two additional entries, so all AAA , Flak, Small Arms fire is located in one spot. This makes for easier editing as only one file is involved.
  
  For light and small arms flak.
  Simply make a text file with the following values and then rename it as flakdata.dat and flakdata.mpf.
  
  02
  140
  10
  2
  190
  20
  
  The first three numbers determine the light flak, the second three determine the small arms flak.
  
  The first value is the sound you will hear, 01=30 cal, 02=50 cal, 03=20MM and 04=30MM
  The second value determines the range of the flak, from 1 to 254
  The third value determines the rate of fire from 1 to 254.
  
  In SPAW I wanted the visual of a lot of traces and water splashes so I set the light flak ROF high, the sound to 20MM but the range to 90 and the medium flak ROF to high, the sound to 30MM and the range to 90. The results were lots of tracers and water splashes and heavy cannon sounds but about a 75% chance of surviving a torpedo run.
  
  Rate of fire needs to be at least 1, as 0 will cause a CTD. Accuracy must be 1 or more , it increases the flak bursts group together more and more. Having a value of 10 just about puts them all together, creating a straight line effect of flak-burst groups.
  
  The source code was using a "bitwise" shift, but I (Jel) went another way which would create a wider range of possibilities: I have now made a new 1.60 exe in which the distances are divided by the flak accuracy value. If the flak accuracy = 7 the distances are divided by 7. The only constraint is that you cannot divide by zero so the flak accuracy needs to be 1 or more......
  
   
• In 160 the default ETO "TargMap.pic" and "TargMap1.pic" files are in the "GameData" folder, and are used whenever a 640x320 tilemap ETO theatre is chosen. (info posted 12-17-2018)
  
  
   
• I (Jel) have done more programming of the torpedo code, so that AI torpedo planes get to the right level and speed for the torpedo release. Things have been done in other aspects of flight modeling with values allowing a plane to be a floatplane which can only take off from water or land on it. other values allow a plane to be an amphibian which can use land or water; and other values simulate a catapult launch. (posted 12-17-2018)
   

[END v1.60]

• Game Data Updates
  
  Various Game Data is commonly updated with each new version as errors are found.

• Separated planesets from theatres
  
  Your now able to mix and match theatres with different planes from different theaters.
  Inherited from its predecessors UAW150 (including 160) uses the "Dir.set" system which allows easy switching between theatres and planesets. However, now, v1.50 and 1.60 have planesets in a "Planesets" folder, so they are independent of theatres. If you so choose too, you can fly an ETO game with Pacific aircraft.

[END v1.50]

• Maps and tilemaps:

Both 1.29 and 1.40 come in two versions, the old map and the new map. The old map versions use the “Europe1.pic” and can only be used with the default 640x320 tilemap. The new map versions use both the “TargMap.pic” and the “TargMap1.pic” files. These are basically the same picture but in different sizes, and are made from the “eaw32.tm” file. What this allows is a flexible tilemap. The TWF beta has a 256x160 tilemap, and the exes are programmed to look for a “Tileset.mpf” file in the root or theatre folder. The one for TWF reads:

256
160

Having read this the exe knows that the tilemap is 256x160 and works accordingly. If no “Tileset.mpf” file is present then the default 640x320 values are used. The later versions of the target editor work with flexible tilemaps and produce the “Tileset.mpf” file when the theatre files are generated.

• Railways and convoys:

The latest versions of the target editor allow the creation of “Convoys.dat” and “EAW_RRD.dat” files.
To create a “convoys.dat” file a target is selected and then the line of the convoy path is drawn. In interdictions “shiplist.mpf” file or a “warlist.mpf” file is used depending on the interdiction type. These files have a list of MGOs to make the convoy composition, so the same makeup is used for all targets with an associated convoy. This has been present in 1.28 and later for a long time.
However, what is new in 1.29 and 1.40 is the use of a “Target.con” file. If Dover has an associated convoy and I make a “Dover.con” file and put it in the theatre folder, then if I select Dover as a ship interdiction target the convoy composition in “Dover.con” will be used in preference to the one in “Shiplist.mpf”

In “EAW_RRD.dat” there are two values that were not used, so I made use of one of them as a flag.
The flag is a value from 0 to 99, and if it is divisible by 5 then the track is rendered, otherwise it is invisible.

In the “Train-Barge3” folder in ETO140 there are “TList00……Tlist10.mpf” files. Each contains a convoy composition of MGOs, and the two digit number matches the flag set for a part of the “EAW_RRD.dat” file. So if a section is flagged as 4 then it will not be rendered, and the composition in “TList04.mpf” will be used for the MGO composition.
Two other files present in the folder are “RTRACK05.TER” and “RTRACK10.TER”. These are versions of the “TRAIN32.TER” file and will be used instead of it if the flag is 5 or 10. That is how I was able to have a narrow gauge line as one of the four parallel lines running North from London. The system allowed me to set the type of train convoy on each of the four lines, armoured goods, passenger and narrow gauge.
Ray Otton found that the frequency of train spawning was unrealistically high- it was good for online fun though.
So to accommodate this the exes can use a “TrainChance.mpf” file. It is a single number from 0 to 255. If it is 255 then the default spawning rate is used, if 128 then the spawning rate is halved.

• Other mpf files:

Armlist, ShipList, TrukList and WarList.mpf
are convoy makeup files for tanks, merchant ships, truck and warship convoys.

Year.mpf
contains values that are used instead on the default 1940, 1943, 1944 and 1945.

VC_offeset files (slot numbered in 1.29)
contain head positions matching the appropriate cockpit views.

PlaneSounds files (slot numbered in 1.29)
contain the engine start and run sound values for an individual aircraft.

MissAxe and MissAlli.mpf
are used in multiplayer to set targets and bases. They are not used in 1.40 as the host’s selections can now be made from the single mission parameters screen, and saved in a file which can be loaded using the DSP140V3.exe.

Interdict.mpf
is a list of values (0 or 1) to turn interdiction types on or off. You can use it to turn off ship interdictions in a completely land based theatre, or train interdictions in a theatre with no railways.

FlakData.mpf
controls light flak (AAA) and small arms fire settings.
They cover gun caliber, duration (?range?) and rate of fire:
LightAAACaliber = 12;
LightAAADuration = 240;
LightAAArof = 13;
SmalAAACaliber = 5;
SmalAAADuration = 160;
SmalAAArof = 15;

If the "FlakData.mpf" file is not present then the default values as shown above are used. The mpf can be read from a theatre folder. It is a text file with the "mpf" extender so it is easily made using notepad as "FlakData.txt" and then the filename can be edited to make it "FlakData.mpf".

CruiseAlt.mpf
files set the low, medium and high altitude cruise values in feet for the years 1940-45.

CapSet.mpf
sets the capitals from the order of targets in “targets.dat”, so that bases and targets can be selected appropriately in a theatre.

BumpVal.mpf
is a list matching a tile to the corresponding bump tile. If the value is -1 for a tile then there is no bump tile.

FrontLine.mpf
sets the frontline for each of the four years, the standard matches the default 0, 0, 8 and 12 (I think).

Torpedo.mpf
sets the maximum height and speed at which a torpedo can be releases without it simply disappearing in the water. The default values are realistic, but this can be a nuisance if you are testing to see if things are working. So I have a test one which has ridiculously high values.

SingMiss.mpf
which has settings for a single offline mission. It was experimental, and never really used.

• 3dz files

Six new ones have been added since v1.?? The values such as “PlaneTiny” have the wording for numeric variables in the EAW source code, and the order used is the one in the source code which is not alphabetical.

The complete list is

t PlaneTiny
s PlaneSmall
l LeftWing
r RightWing
m PlaneMed
f PlaneFull
g FullOtherHalf
h Shadow
p Nose
a TopTurret
b BotTurret
e FullSecondHalf
d Misc01
i Misc02
j Misc03
k Misc04
o Misc05
q Misc06
c NoseArt
v VC_Left
w VC_Right
x VC_Gauge
y VC_Prop
u VC_Wings

• Mission time and date

The month, day, hour and minute can be selected in Single Mission and Multiplayer parameter screens.
The times of sunset and sunrise are also displayed so that the player or host can select an appropriate time especially to get the nice effects at sunrise and sunset.

• Filenames

It grew from EAW1.30 which was the first slot free version of EAW. “Slot free” indicates that planes can be put in any of the 30 slots, and that the old “p38h” …..”V1V1” naming system has gone.

Aircraft files MUST be loaded from Planeset folders which contain “PDir.set” and “FMDir.set” files which reference folders containing the skin, screen and flight data files.

The skin filenames have been changed and the previous “Pp38h” ….. “Pv1v1” names are all “Plane”.
In the case of 3dz files the headers have been re-written to match the new TPC file name.

The flight data files are named:

Plne.flt
Plane.dat
load.dat
LoadMis.dat
Plname.str
PlaneSounds.mpf
GSight.spt

Other files, usually in the skin folder are named:

NatName.str
VCGPlane.dat
Hangar.MPC
vc_offset.mpf

• Additional mission type

Because of multiplayer problems with Torpedo missions in 1.40 there is an additional mission type- a ship strike.
It allows loadout values for this mission type to be in an extra line in the “LoadMis.dat” file, setting one with torpedoes to be the first choice. This is not important in single mission games as loadout is completely selectable, but it is critical in multiplayer where loadout selection is rather inflexible.

I have written software to add the additional line to existing files, but then they need to be edited with the loadout editor, especially in the cases where one or more of the various loadout choices carry torpedoes.

• Multiplayer settings

On the mission parameters screen there is a hotspot at the top which activates/de-activates multiplayer setting. This allows the host to use the map to select not just the target and the homebase, but the allied secondary base, and the enemy primary and secondary bases. They are saved in the “eaw.ini” file and are used when he then hosts a multiplayer game.

To support this the “DSP140V3.exe” will save the settings from his “eaw.ini” and store them as an appropriately named file in the “MPData” folder of the 140 game folder. This folder has subfolders for the various theatres, and for example my SPAW subfolder has a saved file “SPAW Allied Intercept.txt” which reads:

PlaneSetNumber=13
Year=2
MissionType=3
Target=208
FriendlyPrimaryHB=17
FriendlySecondaryHB=109
EnemyPrimaryHB=1
EnemySecondaryHB=2
FriendlySecondaryPL=3
EnemyPrimaryPL=27
EnemySecondaryPL=29

I can use the “DSP140V3.exe” to load this file, and if I do it will overwrite the current versions of these lines in my “eaw.ini” file with the ones it has read.
The values are only used if the player is the multiplayer host, in which case the settings are also passed on to the other players.

All of this is possible because additional items have been added to the source code relating to the structure of the “eaw.ini” file, and the code relating to single mission parameters has been extended.

This example underlines the importance of the “DSP140V3.exe”, not just for selecting the exe, the theatre and the planeset.

• Definition changes for weapons

#define WI_NONE 0x00
#define WI_BOMB 0x01
#define WI_ROCKET 0x02
#define WI_FUEL 0x04
#define WI_Torpedo 0x08 //was 9
#define WI_CARGO 0x10 //was 6
#define WI_Gunpod 0x20 //was 5

The list (from the source code) shows the hexadecimal values.

Previous values did not follow the decimal powers of 2 system (0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32) so that old value of 5 for the gunpod is read as 1+4 making it both a bomb and a droptank, and cargo was both a rocket and a droptank.

This means that some “weapons.dat” files needed editing, and some may still do.

• Separate weapons and hardpoint data files

The old “weapons.dat” file had two parts, weapons data followed by hardpoint data. This made it difficult to add new weapons types to the end of the weapons data section without overwriting the start of the hardpoint data section.
So in 1.40 there are two separate files, “weapons.dat” and “hrdpoint.dat”. This makes editing and extending much easier. Right now I am considering implementing it in 1.29- the files would be the same and they already exist for the 1.40 theatres.

• The evolution of EAW 1.40 - a quick overview:

From the development of the first version of 1.28 many new features have been added to the eaw.exe, so many in fact that I cannot remember them all. We tried to add things that people wanted, such as:

Gun convergence
Multiskins
Increased multiplayer choices
Smoky engine starts
The display of flyable planes for selection in single missions
Use of bmp textures
Elevated aircraft carriers

We added things that we really wanted too:
Split 30 plane files such as the old "planes.dat", "loadout.dat" and "pnames.str" so that a plane could have its individual files rather than just the skin files and "*.flt" file.

We developed the "Dir.set" system so that the exe would look in nominated folders for files, rather than have file managers like OAW put copies of files in the root directory. Out of this emerged 'plane' folders, and scenario folders containing 'planeset' folders which contain "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files which the exe reads to locate the skin and flight data files for each aircraft.

A lot of data was hard coded in the original exe, and often the comment "This should be moved into a file" appears quite frequently in the source code. So we did that, in particular for the TMod table, the bump tile mapping table and the special texture links table. Each TMod can now have its individual data file.

The tile system was very limiting because a single byte contained both the tile ID and its orientation. That allowed a maximum of 64 tile types. Will Gee came up with a system which has four bytes for each tile, so in theory it is possible to have 1000s of different tiles, and some people have already made tile sets with more than 64 tiles in them. The previous single byte "eaw.tm" file was replaced by the new four byte "eaw32.tm" file, and the old "EAW_TTD.DAT" was replaced by the "Geawttd.dat" file.
The maximum number of TMod types was increased to 1000, and the maximum TMods per tile to 256.

Lots of nice little things were done, one of my favorites is the ability to set the mission time, in line with sunrise and sunset. Ralf had made many changes to flight modeling, including getting AI aircraft to park on carriers.

New things were done in 1.29. I made it possible for the exe to read a file to get the tilemap size. This meant that we were no longer locked into 640x320, but it required a new way of drawing the base/target selection and inflight map. The new map files are very basic, and could be more elaborate, but they are built from the tilemap file and the bases and targets are placed exactly where they should be.
I also used some data in the railway files to make it possible to have multitrack rail lines, and tracks which are not rendered which allow barge and ship convoys to travel on invisible rail tracks on rivers and lakes and the sea.

Ralf started 1.30 using a slot free system. The "p38h" ..."v1v1" names have gone, and you can put a plane in any slot. After he stopped EAW work I continued and switched it to 1.40, which has an extra mission type- a torpedo strike.
Because it is slot free the 'planeset' system is essential. Many files in CDFs, and even whole CDFs became redundant, and capitalizing on the way the "Savedata" folder in the root folder is used in 1.40 I was able to produce a version of 1,40 which does not use CDFs at all,

File management is done almost exclusively by the "DirSetExeManager" program. In a couple of mouseclicks we can switch between ETO basic, ETO full, ETO with barges (on the Thames, Seine and Elbe), SAW, DAW, SPAW, SPAW45 and Moggy's Middle East.

One feature in 1.40 is the ability to reduce train spawning. It is set at a maximum level, but if there is a "TrainChance.mpf" file in the root or scenario folder with a value from 0 to 255 in it the exe reads it and generates a random number (0-255). If this is less than the number in the "TrainChance.mpf" file then the train is spawned. So if you put a value of 10 in that file there would be very few trains spawned.

[END v1.40]

v1.40 Change Log
This is a very incomplete list of changes done during the 1.40 revisions programmed by MrJelly, Due to the lack of published concise information. However you will find that most updates where in the exe, however some updates where within updating old game data or adding new game data.

v1.40v90 Multiplayer June 09, 2016

?

v1.40v86 Module March 15, 2016

?

v1.40v85 Module March 14, 2016

?

v1.40v84 Module Special March 10, 2016

?

v1.40v82 Module March 03, 2016

?

v1.40v82 Module March 02, 2016

?

v1.40v81 Module February 21, 2016

?

v1.40v81 Module February 15, 2016
Glide 3.0 added, provided fix by Zeus.

v1.40v80B Basic Trial January 8, 2016

?

v1.40v80Bs Multiplayer RAW2016 January 10, 2016
Run it in the "140Multiplayer" folder.
Trying to assemble this brought up several issues and a new version of the 140 exe which is included. Back with 1.28c Ralf introduced the possibility of a "seasons" folder in the ETO theatre folder. If one is there then a seasonal terrain for spring, summer, autumn, light winter or winter is loaded, depending on the mission date.

With EAW development I have heaps of "seasons" folders, here there and everywhere. In some one or more terrains can be bad, and if I need ti use a "seasons" folder for a new theatre I have to copy an existing one and paste it into the new theatre folder. This takes up more disk space and is a PITA. It also takes more upload/download time when a "seasons" folder needs to be included.

Today I made the exe use a seasons folder in the root folder, so I only need one. There is a file named "UseSeasons" which has and needs no data, but if the exe finds it in a theatre folder then it will use the "seasons" folder in the root folder for that theatre. If not, it will use the default terrain, or one that is included in the theatre folder- such as SPAW and SAW.

The RAW140 installation has two planesets. The winter one is from the Russian Winter version available for 1.2 at Sandbaggers: The summer one is from the original RAW from Sandbaggers, with just one change. There is a Russian Hurricane in place of the "Sukhoi Su-9". This makes sense because the Su-9 was a 1946 Russian jet and never flew in WW2.

There is a "UseSeasons" file in the "RAW140" folder, and I have made sure that there are some seasonally appropriate ground objects in the seasons folders.

It makes sense to set the date to spring, summer or autumn if you are using planeset2, but there is nothing to stop you from using summer skins in winter, or vice versa, if that is your preference.

140 Multiplayer 2016 January 08, 2016
Creates a "140Multiplayer" folder with everything you need in it.
I have tidied up the folder to make things easier to find.
New ETO is a late beta version of Ray's ETO project. It is not quite finished.

140v80b Multiplayer January 03, 2016
Two new exes which do not allow flight models to be mixed. The recent ones that did were experimental and tests revealed serious problems, so it is better to get back on track.

140V80 and v80a December 24, 2015
old and new map versions, and 140V80a old and new map versions in the "EAW Versions" folder when run in the "140Multiplayer" folder.
A. V80 has some modifications to the multiplayer code to ensure that all players get the host's mission date and time.
B. V80a is a test version of V80, which reads "LoadMis.dat" files which have either six or five mission types. Previous 140 versions would CTD if there were not six. A lot of old files only have five and when converted to 140 format and used in a game would cause a CTD.

The sixth mission type is a "Ship strike" which allows for torpedoes to be loaded which most planes do not use anyway. If it seems to work OK then V80a will be the standard, but I included V80 as a fall-back.

140MP December 21 2015

?

140v? December 20, 2015

?

140vSpecialRotation December 19, 2015

?

140v72.exe December 9, 2015

?

140v70 December 3, 2015

?

ETO140 November 28, 2015

?

140Multiplayer November 28, 2015
The new folder will be \140Multiplayer
I have been working on all sorts of things including the new Mediterranean theatre, hangar screens, minipics and non-flyable AI flight models. So, as there have been many changes to files and folders, I have made a new folder for a CDF free multiplayer set-up. People who do not fly online are welcome to download and install it too- it is fine for offline play. I have not included any experimental/WIP theatres such as TWF and Moggy's IRAQ, and the old "ETO140" set-up is not there as I am currently working on that big "Planes_ETO" folder. However, there is a default ETO theatre available with the default EAW 1.2 aircraft.

Several major changes have been made to the exe:

A. There are two data loading routines which are meant to be called once only via the code in "setup.c". They were not called in that file, but were called repeatedly in several other files. This had the potential to chew up and or leak memory and as a result cause problems. In the new exes (supplied in the download) this has been fixed and they are now called once only via the code in "setup.c", and in no other routines.

B. There were two routines writing data to the "eaw.ini" file, one for offline settings and the other for multiplayer. There is now one routine only that deals with all of the data.

C. There was a problem with some aircraft carriers in which the runway shifted when the mission was repeated. It depended on the TMod used for the carrier and the settings in it. Further investigation indicated that under the wrong circumstances a routine used to set the position of the sails of a windmill was moving the carrier TMod, not the runway. This has been fixed.

As a result the target set-up for ETO and the Mediterranean theatres have been changed. There is no problem with SPAW because the TMods used for the SPAW carriers did not have the rogue settings in their data files.

I have on some testing on the LAN and it seems to be OK, so ready to test online

140MiniPatch November 5, 2015
With working on the Mediterranean theatre I noticed minor annoyances in the case where a plane file does not have a hangar or a minipic available. In this case the exe uses a default file in the "savedata" folder of the root folder. I was not happy with the default files so I made two new ones. The minipic reminds the user that there is none, and may inspire them to make one. The hangar does not identify an aircraft, and the dilapidated state may also inspire a user to fix the problem.

140 Mediterranean Pack; MediTerraPack: November 4, 2015
It is a combines Malta-DAW set-up

Planes_ETO29Oct October 29, 2015
? Undisclosed fixes.

140DAWPatch24Oct2015 October 24, 2015
I have finally got round to fixing problems with DAW140.
In single mission mode some planes such as the 109G-2 would immediately CTD when selected.
I made a test planeset with a second 109G-2 in a "good" slot, and when this slot was selected the program did not CTD. As I expected selecting the one in the previous slot still gave an instant CTD.

This supported my hunch that the problem was caused by the Squadron files.
So I edited the squadron files to match the planes with appropriate bases, and this fixed the problem, apart for two planes, the DAW Dornier 17 and the Heinkel 111.
These two planes were never flyable originally so I made AI versions of the FM files setting them as non-flyable.
All select-able planes can now be used for single missions. The He 111 and Do 17 can be selected as the aircraft to escort in an escort mission, or to intercept in an intercept mission.

It contains only the modified or additional files so it will overwrite some existing files in the "DAW140" and "Planes_ETO" folders. Make sure you let it do this. It does not replace the "DAW140" and "Planes_ETO" folders-it just updates them.

DSPV6 ?-?-?
It provides some fixes to the DSP launcher.

140CDF16Sept2015 September 16, 2015
? Undisclosed changes, updates to 140v66.

v1.40v64 September 3, 2015
DSPV5 For people not flying EAW140 online there is a new and simpler DirSet Picker which allows more descriptive names for the "Dir.set" files. It uses a folder named "LongDirSets" so that it does not conflict with the existing DirSet Pickers which use the "DirSets" folder.

 

140V64Update August 25, 2015
Solved the CTD caused by a large "tardata.dat" file, and they will be needed when Ray releases his updated ETO set-up.

the new V64 exes to your "EAW Versions" folder, and put the shortened versions of the default "TextMap1.str" and "TextMap2.str" files in your "savedata" folder.

140UpdateAug15 August 15, 2015
The wing view error in the Yak9 occurred in the original 140 conversion, and I have fixed it. You see the correct wing views when you are flying the Yak-9 in both ETO140 (planeset4) or FAW140 (planesets 2 and 3).
Whilst I was dealing with the Yak-9 I noticed that the skin of the "FokkerCX" was terrible. I went back to the 1.28e skin folder and re-converted the skin of this aircraft. It now appears as it should have.

140v62 August 12, 2015
Additions of Iron Mike's 8 and 24 bit color HR skins, special texture problem fixes and graphics issues fixed. Like checkered board style ground textures problems.

140v61 August 09, 2015
No RADIO Voices or Text / No Campaign Voices: I have replaced two code files with more recent versions and the missing chat sounds are back. Tested on Vista.

No Mouse Cursor, although mouse clicking functions: This has been documented before, but in the source code there is a "eaw.rc" file which contains several things including the copyright text. Late last year I edited it in an attempt to update it, and exes after that time were compiled to include the new version. There were no problems until someone tried one of the new exes with Windows 8.1 and there was no mouse. By reversing changes I found that this new version of the "eaw.rc" file was the culprit.
This file contains nothing relating to the mouse, and why it is OK in XP, Vista and Windows 7, but not in Windows 8.1 or 10 is really baffling!
The base versions that I gradually developed into V61 must have contained the new "eaw.rc" file, hence the missing mouse. I recompile the two map versions with the previous "eaw.rc" file to fix this bug.

140v59 August 06, 2015
Lost Gun, Gear and Explosion Sounds AND no FF Forces bug fix: I have been running 140v59 on this 2008 Vista laptop, and cannot lose the sound. I can with other versions, but I cannot say that the problem is fixed because it may well still occur on other people's PCs. I am guessing that it was a memory build up problem, which showed up relatively quickly on this laptop, but did not show up at all on my desktop PC which has much more memory.

140CNV58 ?-?-?
Fixes all two engine planes missing spinners and one prop. For the onliners at GameRanger please use these updates as I want to make the V58 exe the new default.

Have the routines which make TMods turn if certain conditions are met based on the TMod number.
(Used for searchlights and windmills, etc)

If the TMod is between 900 and 949 the "animation" routine applies.
In the example at Hawkinge 900, 901, 902 and 903 are images of the same windmill with the sails at slightly different positions. Only 900 is placed at the target, but the exe cycles through the four images giving the impression that the sails are rotating.

If the TMod is between 980 and 999 (the max) then a different rotation routine applies which changes the direction of the TMod. This is how the searchlights rotate.
If the Tmod is 990 or more then it is only visible at night- ideal for searchlights. The Hawkinge example has 990, 991 and 992 all basically the same, but with different colored beams.

An important change for 140 plane skinning (140v58)

An explanation why the use of more than one slot for an aircraft skin can create problems, and that there is a new solution available for EAW140 due to me adding 30 additional special texture mappings to the "TextMap1.str" and "TextMap2.str" files.

Some EAW skins are problematic because of "old-timer" skinners (including MPS) made the 3dz files reference more than one slot.
For two examples:

The first. There are cases where a 109e skin 3dz is referencing a 190A TPC which is not included in the skinfolder that is provided in a download. The maker is assuming that the default TPC in the stock "3D.CDF" will be used, and this is all well and good until the player loads his preferred skin for the 190A with a different version of the TPC file which will be used instead of the default one. This produces undesirable results when the 109e is involved in a game.

The Second. There is a less offensive version, where the use of the second slot is unavoidable, as in the case of Iron Mike's "FW190A JG 54 '43" 8 bit multiskins. Planes 01, 04 and 08 have prop spinners, and needed a "p.3dz" file. There was not enough room on the 190A texture files so he made the p.3dz reference V1 slot texture files which was neat because the V1 does not have a prop. It worked well in 1.29 because the V1 "*.tx" file were mapped to the equivalent "*.tra" files in the special texture mapping.

However, this produced problems with the 140 converted skins because different special texture mapping files are used. To solve the problem I have added an extra section to the mapping files (TextMap1.str and TextMap2.str) and re-built them. It means that new files are available for 140 skins.
"pmisc01mx.tpc ...... pmisc15mx.tpc" are mapped to "pmisc01mra.tpc ...... pmisc15mra.tpc"
and "pmisc01tx.tpc ...... pmisc15tx.tpc" are mapped to "pmisc01tra.tpc ...... pmisc15tra.tpc".

Renaming Mike's files from "pV1V1" to "pmisc", and editing the headers in the three "p.3dz" files fixed the problem.

So the point of the post is that these "pmisc" files can be used by 140 skinners if a situation such as the one with the 190A multiskins arises.

I will need to upload the extended "TextMap1.str" and "TextMap2.str" files for 140 users, and a patch for the "FW190A JG 54 '43" folder with the edited 3dz files and the six new "pmisc" files.

v1.40v58 July 20, 2015
EAW140 with the ETO theatre and a couple of variations, the Desert Air War, the Spanish Air War, and the South Pacific Air War theatres (both SPAW and SPAW45). In addition it sets up beta versions of Moggy's IRAQ theater, and Ade Kelly's WW1 theatre.

It will give you the two latest versions of the 140 exe (140CNV58.exe and 140COV58.exe) by updating the "EAW Versions" folder, insert a "NewHawk" folder into the "ETO140" folder, and update the "DirSets" folder by adding a "HawkWMSL" file. It will add a replacement summer terrain too- fixing a problem with Glide that one of the earlier versions had.

If you select either of the new exes, and the "HawkWMSL" dir.set then you will see the windmill and three searchlights if you fly a night mission from Hawkinge with a groundstart.

140v58 July 12, 2015
It will put two new versions of the 140.exe in the "EAW Versions" folder, two new files in the "DirSets" folder, a new folder in the "ETO140" folder and create a new folder named "ETOTest". The new exes are "140COV58" and "140CNV58" (old and new map versions respectively).
The "HawkWMSL" dir.set lets you fly from Hawkinge and check out the windmill and the searchlight. The latter needs a night mission to be visible. The "ETOTest" dir.set is exactly that- try it out.

140v52 through v57
(Note: There were no public releases of V52-57 as they were all experimental versions to get the searchlights and windmills rotating. So the previous stable version is 140v51.)

140COV51.exe 5-20-2015
140CNV51.exe 5-19-2015
In various folders there are "TList00.mpf" ... "Tlist99.mpf" files which used to have 17 values which the exe read.
An 18th value has been added, so the update replaces the existing ones, and adds a few more.

There are two new exes (new map and old map) with a heap of changes regarding floatplanes and rail track convoys. These will be installed as "140CNV51.exe" and "140COV51.exe" in the "EAW Versions" folder.

There is a new DirSet manager (DSP140V4.exe) which lets you load "EAW_RRD.DAT" files. These are stored in a new "Railways" folder. Check the "Trains do not always run on tracks" thread to find out more about this:)

Additional floatplanes have been added to the SPAWPlanes folder, and a new planeset (18) to the SPAW140 folder.
The planeset utilizes floatplanes, and a new target map is loaded if this planeset is selected. In addition to the Catalina (allied and axis versions just for testing), there is a Spitfire floatplane, a "Rufe", a "Jake" and a "Pete".

With this planeset loaded they can take off from the following places:
(a) Any carrier.
(b) Allied from Shortlands seaplane base which is near the Allied carriers.
(c) Japanese from the Japanese seaplane base, which is near the Japanese carriers.
(d) The Catalina is set as an amphibian so it can take off from an airfield on land or a seaplane base.

This is all a test set-up to give you the chance to try floatplanes, and "find the enemy fleet" missions.

DAW140Patch1 ?-??

?

DSP140V3 ?-?-?

?

Plane_Skin ?-?-?
Rename/Remove the existing "Plane_Skin" folder before you run it. A new one will be created including replacements for a few missing or corrupt files that were in the original.

MapPatch ?-?-?

?

Patch02 ?-?-?
overwrites the "savedata" folder with one containing EAW140 versions of a couple of files in the Data.CDF (which still contains the 1.28/1.29 versions of some files). The exe will use the files in the "savdata" folder in preference to the ones in the CDFs. It fixes a gunpods problem which was noted.

Patch01 ?-?-?
It contains a new "DirSets" and a new "EAW Versions" folder which are meant to replace the previous ones.
The "DirSets" contains a corrected file which fixes the fault that in the ETO140 Dir.set file is a not existing PlaneSet0 folder listed. Since the Pic folder is listed afterward, it dont get read anymore, resulting in a Pic not found error, when one of the Pics shal get loaded (specialy the Map picture). I made me a correct Dir.set file and all is fine.
In the "ETO Barge train" Dir.set the PlaneSet0 entry is missing, so all is fine.

The V2CDF exes were built from the V1 no CDF exes, with references to CDF files re-instated. These references are mainly all in one or two code files, but there were a couple in more obscure places that did not get re-activated.
As a result there were no radio messages in the ETO theatre, such as the one you get with Tab 7 1 to find the nearest enemy. This has been fixed and the "EAW Versions" folder has the corrected versions for the new and old maps.

SPAW ?-?-?
Theater

SAW ?-?-?
Theater

140MME April 24, 2015
Theater

TWF April 15, 2015
Theater

1-CDFs ?-?-?
140RV2CDF ?-?-?
This should give you a working 140 installation with the ETO theatre

140CN81.exe 1-03-2015
140CO81.exe 1-03-2015

?

140COldmapV2.exe 12-30-2014
140CNewmapV2.exe 12-30-2014

?

140COldmap.exe 12-12-2014
140CNewmap.exe 12-12-2014

?

NoCDFnewMap 11-12-2014
NoCDFoldMap 11-11-2014

?

EAW 1.40 No CDF Version02 09-18-2014

?

140MPNoMovies 9-12-2014

?

140 MP02a 9-11-2014
Fixes to the airforce display in MP with the name coming from the first 3 items in "NetText.str"
This allows a theatre specific "NetText.str" to be included.
This fix renders the previous versions obsolete.

140 MP03 8-31-2014
140 MP02 8-31-2014

?

140MP 8-20-2014
140RC7 8-20-2014

?

EAW1.40 RC6CarLandV1 8-08-2014

?

Eaw140RelCan07 8-06-2014

?

EAW140V10[Career] 3-06-2014

?

EAW140V09[8 Plane] 2-26-2014
EAW140V09[16 Plane] 2-26-2014

?

EAW140V09[30Plane] 2-20-2014

?

UAW3a 2-01-2014

?

EAW140V02[16Plane] 1-06-2014
EAW140V02[8Plane] 1-06-2014
EAW140V02[30Plane] 1-06-2014

?

EAW140V01[8Plane] 1-04-2014
EAW140V01[16Plane] 1-04-2014
EAW140V01[30Plane] 1-04-2014

?

...the logical step was to combine 1.29 with the slot free system of 1.30, and the result was UAW140.

[ENDv1.40 ChangeLog]

v1.30 The Code Group - release (?11-13-2013 through 12-31-2013?)

....With the 1.30 slot free system many files became redundant, including entire CDFs such as FLT.CDF and Cockpits.CDF, so the essential files were extracted and put into savedata. This made for a smaller installation without the CDFs....

1.30 and 1.40:
From Jel (in 2015)

While 1.28e was running, I worked on 1.29 and Ralf Knegel started work on 1.30, with a "slot free" system and we came up with combining 1.29 and 1.30 (as 1.30). His available time became limited, so I continued with it, but hit a problem with torpedo missions online. There were always five possible mission types- escort, bomb, intercept, fighter sweep and interdiction. To solve the torpedo problem I added a sixth one, "ship strike" which allowed me to fly a Kate online in a SPAW mission with a torpedo in a "ship strike" or with bombs in a bombing mission or truck interdiction. An extra line for this mission type was needed in the "loadmis.dat" file, and as these would be incompatible with the previous ones, so I made the new exe 1.40.

Some Info Regarding 1.30
From FsFOOT (RAF_Roy) (posted 2016)

These all have the correct bumptile code.
The bumptiles was another idea that came from the tm2 era. They are for height models - terrain tiles, a micro hm system that would allow the tiles to have their own hm. When I found that originally there was an unused file type in the .cdf's and Will Gee was around he mentioned something also, and my findings were that the thxxxxxx files seemed like an abandoned attempt at some bump mapping hm thing, everything just clicked, some of either commented out code or Will's code allowed Jelly to figure out this height modeling sub-system (I never tried any of the versions so I've never seen it in action). I think Jel may have abandoned the bumpcode later? But I'm not sure. I stopped following his .exe's after the 1.40 beginnings. I mean after maybe 50 exe's from 1.30 to early spaw 1.40.

There are three varieties of 1.3 V8
There is the normal 30 plane version but also the 16 and 8 plane version.
I am finding the last two useful for making smaller planesets for the WIP Scenarios in which some skins still need to be made, and others do not convert well to the slot free system.
All three are the flex versions and use "TargMap.PIC"
Flex versions are the ones that allow smaller map size. The targmap is I think the maps drawns by Jel's system of drawing data from files to the in-game map or target screens, etc. as opposed to using the regular pics from the cdf as a background. Some versions had ability to use the normal cdf pic if present or else they would use the Jel code drawing those map, screens.

The thing is those drawn screens are good because they solve the render issues on the target map etc. An idea that I believe had its beginnings in P.O. Prunes maps of the eaw world .tm . I always wanted to do something like that. As soon as I mentioned it and started some experiments, as always Jel jumped in, stole my basic idea and coded away...

We will get rid of plane slot binding!
From Ralf Knegel (posted 2-20-2012)

for EAW1.3 we will make another big step away from EAW1.2.
Today i broke the plane slot binding.
The Plane slot binding is how i call the fact that each skin that you download only can get used in the plane slot where its made for.
Same goes for flight files, hangar screens, loadout files, Mission setup plane pictures etc.

If we wanted to have a Spit1a in more than its default Plane slot(in a BoB campaign setup for example, or in two absolut different setups), we had to reslot the same skin, hangar screen, flight files etc. Over the years many planes got present in 4-5 slots, still it was horrible to create a new plane set, cause often different planes that we wanted in the new plane set did overlap with other planes, so again we had to reslot one or the other plane.

As result we had to store many planes 2 - 6 times and so the D/L size got horrible big, not to talk about the administration of all this.

With EAW1.3 we will be able to store every skin and every flight file exact one time, while we can use this plane in every of the 30 plane slots.
Only restriction is that we need at least one enemy plane.

Currently iam testing EAW1.3(wip) with just two plane's. Initially all allied planes got to be a Spit1a and all Axis planes got to be a 109E, later i mixed the planes in a wild manner, while the game still run without problems.

All this with just two skins and flight files.
The new Planes folder probably will have 50% of its current size, while the flexibility will be endless.

 

The planes to be loaded get selected like now out of the planes folder by an Pdir.set and FMdir.set file.
Apart from the loading procedure nothing change once we are in game.
Afaik the single and twin engine slots are compatible already.
Like now the minipics, hangar screens etc get placed with the skin in the planes folder, so they show up fitting to it.

Progress:

All seems to work good now.
Actually better than good.

This system brings some more advantages.

1. No matter in what slot we use the plane types, we will get the correct wingman call.
For example, if we used a Spitfire in the P51D slot, we got a "Mustangs" warning from our wingman. Now we will get the correct "Spitfires" warning.

2. The Nosearts of the B17 and B24 work in any slot now(before they was hardcoded to the related slots).

3. The speedometer needles got handled different in the Hurri, Spit1a, 109E and 110C slot. For example, if we did reslot a 109E to the 109G slot, the speed that the needle did show didnt fit anymore to the graphic.
Now this isnt slot related anymore.

The bigger advantage of course is the full freedom where we place the different planes.

Till now we had to keep each plane type in 3-5 slots, to be able to setup all possible setups. This mean we had to store each skin 3-5 times.
If we take the common around 150 different plane types and just 3 slots per plane, thats already 450 Skins. If we give each plane type only three different skins(summer/winter/desert) thats already 1350 Skins.
Modern multi skin sets have a size between 4 and 7 MB, the normal LR single skin got a size of around 1MB(including hangar screen etc). So even this very limited stup would have a size of 1,35 GB, if we use only single Low res skins and 6,75GB with 5MB Multiskins.

What we have now is equal to have every plane in every plane slot. With three 5 MB multiskins and 150 plane types thats just a size of 2,25GB and just 450 Skins.

The biggest advantage imho is the way smaller amount of time to administrate and update all the skins and FM´s, cause we need to store each skin and FM exact one time on our HD and never again we need to reslot it.

 

1st time in the EAW history we can create plane sets without the need to reslot planes.
Great possibilities we will have and it will make things 200% more simple.

This is what we are working on right now:
1. We create a main Skin folder, here we create folders sorted by plane types(Bf109, FW190, Spitfire, Hurricane, P51, P47 etc etc).
Inside each plane type folder we create Skin subfolders, into each folder one complete skin get stored(here we can add more and more skins later).
Example:

Planes\Skins\Spitfire\Spit1a_01
		     \Spit1a_02
		     \Spit1a_03
		     \SpitVb_01
		     \SpitVb_02
		     \SpitIXc_01

Planes\Skins\Spitfire\Spit1a_FM
		     \SpitVb_FM
		     \SpitVc_FM
	     	     \SpitIXcMerlin61_FM
		     \SpitIXcMerlin66_FM
		     \SpitIXcMerlin70_FM
		     \Spit14e_FM

1.3 beta 6 is here:
Knegel (??-??-????)

(in parallel with 1.28fv11) got the loading screen and a adjusted Ai ground attack routine (torpedo attacks didn't work anymore and attack bombers couldn't strafe).

Small Note about Formations
Jel (posted ??)
This new slot free system doesn't allow formations to be edited, Formations are not and never were linked to slots.
They are related to year, plane type, and time of day.

Change the 8.3 filename system CDFs EAW 1.3
????  3-21-2012

(Roy)I was thinking we should be able to change the limitation of the 8.3 file / filename name system in the 1.3 .exe.....EAW was originally developed back so long ago the 8.3 was used. The CDF tools also picpac, gpm2tpc, etc all used the Dos convention......

(Jel).....but with the folder system being used for SPAW, and all new scenarios since SPAW was released, the filename length problem is not an issue. The CDFs are really just a default back-up system now.....

(Rotton).....a problem with TMODS.

We use the following naming convention as per the exe:

TMOD 1 through 99 are TMOD**_H.3dz ( main model )
TMOD**_L.3dz ( distance model)
TMOD**_D.3dz ( damaged model)
TMOD**_S.3dz ( shadow )

The accompanying TPC files use this naming convention as per general agreement but NOT set in stone:

TMD***h and TMOD***hs for the main model and distance model
TMD***d and TMOD***ds for the damage model.

The problem starts at TMOD100 where the naming convention should be TMOD***_H.3dz but that's 9/3 not 8/3.

We overcame it in SPAW, to my knowledge, the only campaign that uses TMODS over 99, by having a folder for TMODS over 99 and using the directory set process to access them. ( Possibly FAW does too but I'm not sure )

We had discussed simply removing the superfluous "_" character or changing the names to TMD ( leaving out the O ) which would have worked but nothing came of it.....

(Gibbon).......The other Tmod naming convention, also not set in stone but is based on the EAW original system.

Tmod**/*_H = Grnd**/*.tpc
Tmod**/*_L = Grnd**/*s.tpc
Tmod**/*_D = Grnd**/*.tpc
All Tmod**/*_S = Shadow.tpc

But there are loads of Tmods, which carry funny non standard names......

(Jel).....we should leave the CDFs as they are apart from adding minor extensions like we have done with the new string files and bump tiles.
If I were building a new scenario I would do the whole thing in a two folders One would be the scenario folder with subfolders with the appropriate planesets, "Pdir.set" and "FMdir.set" files, and referenced by a "Dir.set" file loaded using OAW or the DirSet Picker. The second would be a planes folder with the skins and FMs.

The beauty of this system, which we have already been using for some time now, is that:
1. There are no filename problems.
2. Any problem files can be replaced without having to unpack and repack a CDF.
3. The root folder is not cluttered with files to be used in preference to the ones on the CDFs.

The only advantage of the CDF system is that they contain sets of conveniently grouped files. They are not compressed, so a folder containing files and a CDF are no different in size. However, the folder is much more flexible and far more convenient to use.....

(Knegel)....The Tmod naming problems was solved by leaving the underscore out for tmods > 99.

TMOD**_L.3dz
TMOD99_L.3dz
TMOD100L.3dz
TMOD***L.3dz

1.3beta5 upload the latest (with 1.28Fv10 also):
Knegel? (??-??-2012)

There are several new things:
The sun-set/rise vary with the moth.
We got smoke for the tmods (of course this need adjustments in other files to show up).
We got more 3dz´s for the planes.
The mission times can get adjusted exact.
Many MSN file values can get used now(also individual cruise height values for the squad).


One known shortcomming(right now it comes to mind, forgot to fix it): Once cruise altitude values are vritten into the MSN files, we need an external tool to change them. If we did fly a mission with individual cruise altitude values, this values get stored into "lastmisssion.msn" and from now on we can select other altitudes.
By default the cruise altitudes are set to zero and actually never got used(there are more unused values in the MSn files), so this problem only should occur when we adjust a MSN with an external tool.

I will work on a fix for this.

(Jel) 3-31-2012  Ok the above mentioned problem got solved and i found another bug.

While adjusting the Swordfish i made a torpedo attack and found out that no Ai could fly below 80m alt, so no Ai could bring its torpedo into water without to destroy it. Also the release distance was way to long.

I wonder how many people ever made a torpedo attack, cause the bug was intoduced already with EAW1.28d, maybe even with 1.28c.

It was caused by the hill avoid routine, which got introduced before SPAW got released.

the 1.3 exe V5 will get a CTD unless they copy the "Textmap1.str" and "Textmap2.str" files and paste the copies as "Texture1.str" and "Texture2.str" in Savedata.

[END v1.30]

v1.29 The Code Group - release (?3-08-2013 through 11-21-2013?)

New 1.29 alternate version
From Jel (9-27-2019)

Crashin' Jack had been working on a version of the exe to use 1024x768 screens, which were much better with the newer and larger monitors, that was 1.28d...

To avoid having to convert 640x480 screens to 1024x768 (in the year 2018) I went back to the 1.29 code and reversed Crashin' Jack's 1.28D changes. It has all of the features of the 1.29 "Old Map" exe, but uses 640x480 screens.

1.29 was basically 1.28F, but with the flexible tilemap size.
From Jel (in 12-17-2018)

In all versions up to and including 1.28E the 640x320 tilemap was read from the "eaw.tm" file which had 1 byte for each tile. If the byte = 0 then you got Tile0 facing north, if the byte = 1 you got Tile1 facing north,.......... and if it = 63 you got tile 63 facing north.
If the byte = 64 then you got Tile0 facing east, and if it = 127 you got Tile63 facing east. The pattern continued with bytes of 128...191 being Tiles 0...63 facing south, and bytes of 192...255 being Tiles 0...63 facing west.
So this system imposed a limit of 64 tiles (Tile0....Tile63) in order to have the possibility of the N E S W orientation if there was only 1 byte available.

Will Gee came up with a new system with four bytes per tile. The first three are the tile ID so it is possible to have 16777216 different tiles instead of 64, not that anyone would design so many.
The fourth is either a 0, 64, 128 or 192 for the N E S W orientation.
1.28F was the first exe to use this system, and the exe reads the "eaw32.tm" file and not the "eaw.tm".
There are a few theatres which use more than the old 64 tiles, and additional tiles have been added to the previous ones.

1.28f => 1.29 (New Map exe)
From Jel (in 2015, 12-17-2018, 9-27-2019)

EAW was always restricted to a 640x320 tilemap grid. I needed an alternative pilot-map system when the tilemap was not 640x320. I found a way the allow it to use other sizes (any size), ideal for theatres in a limited area of operations. I did this for the experimental LittleBob and WW1 Western theaters, which has a 265x160 tilemap.

A new map system was needed for this, and as a result the 1.29 version was born, which was the first EAW exe that was able to use tilemaps of different sizes.

 It has been produced in two forms. One uses the "new map" files (TargMap1.pic and TargMap.pic) the other uses the "old map" (Europe1.pic) for single mission selections and the in-flight map, its for users who prefer that map. The "New Map" version handles different sized tile-maps, and uses different screens for single mission selections and the in-flight map. The latter can only be used if the tilemap is the default 640x320.

1.29 is the last exe to use the EAW slot system with skin and flight file names containing "p38h" .... "v1v1".

Background on the 1.29 Code:
From FsFOOT (in October 2016)

There are a ton of 1.29 versions, (There are some 750 changes in the 1.29 series at least according to Jel himself.) but basically it breaks down to early versions > continued the 1.28f line and were MrJelly with a bit of Ralf (knegel) code. Then Ralf started working directly on the early 1.3 series.

MrJelly pursued the 1.29 series while also consulting with Ralf for the folder system, etc.
1.3 at that time was mainly significant for the breakthrough of Ralf which split the planes.dat file, which allow each plane to have it own flight model files and be slot-free. Also the development to make a folder system for files to begin deprecating the .cdf archive system.

Ralf spent a lot of time for new 1.3 fight models, since the new system freed not just the planes.dat file, but according to Ralf, the more important benefit was that now all the fm (flight models) could be independently balanced (relations to other planes FM as far as simulation accuracy) without some confinements the planes.dat had. Since Ralf always commented to me many times over the years that what actually he spent most time on FM was to get the models balanced. Changing one model and others have to be adjusted or you end up with unreal performances compared to the others, etc.

During the period of late 1.28f 1.29 and 1.3 Jel and Ralf exchanged code without anyone else in the loop for a time. At that time I had some work to contribute but I had no real source of theirs to work with. Then when Ralf finally left (At some point Ralf retired from EAW / lost his hard drive data and years of work and tools he did not wish to rebuild.) Jel kept the code on his own. Jel continued the middle series 1.29, eventually merged Ralfs 1.3 into the 1.29 series. Then he skipped and started naming the series 1.40 etc.

[END v1.29]

v1.28f The Code Group - release (8-17-2012 onto 2-28-2013 through 4-04-2013??)

Summery of 1.28F:
From Jel (??-??-2015, 9-27-2019)

Stock EAW and previous Code-Group versions where limited to have no more than 64 different terrain tiles, but Will Gee (MPS EAW-Team Programmer) found a way that we could literally have thousands. It needed a different tile system to what we had, which was incompatible with the previous versions. The development of 1.28e stopped when Will Gee made a new version of the "eaw.tm" file with four bytes per tile instead of one byte. Since this brought in the possibility of having thousands of different terrain tiles, the 1.28F exe was produced, being the first version with this new system using the "eaw32.tm" and GeawTTD2.dat" files... (Moggy's Dunirk has more than 64 tile types for an example).

Will Gee added some code that changed the tilemap system. Instead of there being a single byte for each tile in the "eaw.tm" file there were now four. Previously this limited us to 64 tile types because the orientation was included in the byte:
2 was the water tile N
66 (2+64) was the water tile E
130 (2+128) was the water tile S
194 (2+192) was the water tile W

Will's system gave us the possibility of having thousands of tiles, but a new file was needed which is the "eaw32.tm". Additionally the previous "EAW_TTD.DAT" file also needed replacing and this is now the "Geawttd2.dat" file.

As a result of these changes 1.28e became 1.28f, and another folder, "EAWTM2" was added containing some default files.

Testing 1.28FV29:
From ?? (posted ??-??-????)

I just tested 1.28FV29AO with ETOBargeTrain3 online at GameRanger.
All went well- we saw tugs and barges on the Thames and the Cossack amongst other ships off Foreness.

Railway Tracks for Glide:
From ?? (posted ??-??-????)

the new railway track graphics being 512x512 which Glide cannot handle.
We are making some appropriate 256x256 files for Glide.

1.28FV28:
From ?? (posted ??-??-????)

with the double-rendering bug fixed and a couple of other minor improvements.

It is set up for OAW128, and it will add items to:

The OAW128 folder
The DirSets folder
The ETO_01 folder

Some replacement CDFs are included in case yours need updating.

The additional files are to show modders and users the new features of the exe.
Use OAW to load just the "E-1.28FV28PR" folder with the new exe, and use its DirSet Picker to select "ETOBargeTrain3"
Try FW190A interdictions, but choose "Mixed" which has replaced "train"
Targets:

Hayes and Chelveston for the four track rail line with one track narrow gauge.
If you choose Hayes you can swing via the Thames on the way to the target and with luck you will see tugs and barges.

If you just want the tugs and barges select London as the target.

Foreness should generate four sea convoys heading for France with a variety of ships from tugs and barges, to the HMS Cossack

Finishing 1.28F:
From Jel (posted 10-01-2012)

With a bit of luck 1.28F is finished at V24 for the time being as I have done everything that I want to with the extended "train" interdiction which has become "Mixed".
EAW1.30 has been brought up to the same stage, so my work on that has stopped too at V19.

the new scenarios coming out will require 1.28F , update your 1.28E installation to the new one, and then update it to 1.28FV24. Your updated 1.28E folder will allow you to run 1.28E or 1.28F so there is nothing to lose by upgrading.

To understand what the Dir.set system is:
From ?Jel? (posted ??-??-??)

With the commercially released version of EAW and the patches provided as an update such as 1.1 and 1.2 the eaw.exe looks for any file it needs in just two places.
The first place is in the EAW folder.
If the file is not there it looks in the appropriate CDF file, so if it needs the "p38h.flt" file it reads the one packed in the FLT.CDF file.

This system allowed modding, because the eaw.exe would use a "p38h.flt" file that is in the EAW folder in preference to the one in the FLT.CDF file.
So, modding put hundreds of files in the root folder, and file managers such as OAW moved them in and out of the root folder as required.

It worked well, but the continuous file movement caused disk fragmentation to accelerate and this could become a problem. It got worse when multiskins arrived.
As a result we came up with a new system in the 1.28 series when we programmed the exe to check for a "Dir.set" file in the EAW folder, and read it if it found one.
A "Dir.set" file contains the name of a folder and a list of subfolders to look for files in.

The one for ETO01 reads

ETO_01
PIC
NULL

If this particular file is in the EAW folder then the eaw.exe looks for any game file it needs it looks in the EAW folder first.
If it is not there it looks in the ETO_01 folder, then in the PIC sub folder.
If it is not there then it looks in the appropriate CDF file.

NULL is always added to the list to indicate the end of the list.

So this "Dir.set" system gives the 1.28 series of exes other places to look for the game files in addition to the EAW folder and the CDFs. It reduces the movement of files in and out of the EAW folder to a bare minumum thereby fixing the disk fragmentation problem.

What the "DirSet Picker" and "DirSetExeManager" both do is to copy a file selected from the list, and paste it into the EAW folder but renamed as "Dir.set" so that the eaw.exe reads it.

1.28fV11 is here:
Knegel (??-??-????)

(in parallel with 1.30betav6) got the loading screen and a adjusted Ai ground attack routine (torpedo attacks didn't work anymore and attack bombers couldn't strafe).

1.28fv10 upload the latest  (with 1.3beta5 also):
Knegel? (??-??-2012)

There are several new things:
The sun-set/rise vary with the moth.
We got smok for the tmods(of course this need adjustments in other files to show up).
We got more 3dz´s for the planes.
The mission times can get adjusted exact.
Many MSN file values can get used now(also individual cruise height values for the squad).


One known shortcomming(right now it comes to mind, forgot to fix it): Once cruise altitude values are vritten into the MSN files, we need an external tool to change them. If we did fly a mission with individual cruise altitude values, this values get stored into "lastmisssion.msn" and from now on we can select other altitudes.
By default the cruise altitudes are set to zero and actually never got used(there are more unused values in the MSn files), so this problem only should occur when we adjust a MSN with an external tool.

I will work on a fix for this.

Ok the above mentioned problem got solved and i found another bug.

While adjusting the Swordfish i made a torpedo attack and found out that no Ai could fly below 80m alt, so no Ai could bring its torpedo into water without to destroy it. Also the release distance was way to long.

I wonder how many people ever made a torpedo attack, cause the bug was intoduced already with EAW1.28d, maybe even with 1.28c.

It was caused by the hill avoid routine, which got introduced before SPAW got released.

Uploaded 1.28FV6:
From ???? (2-19-2012)

New is just the corrected "time over target", on the pre and post briefing screen.

....will go for getting rid of the slot binding now.

1.28FV5:
Knegel (posted 2-07-2012)
 

Of course it's based on V4!


New is:

1. The stars work in glide now.
2. The mission date and time stored in the MSN files get used in single missions.
3. The time get displayed on the single mission setup screen.
4. The time can get adjusted on the single mission setup screen.
5. The adjusted time can get stored in the msn files.
6. The "day-time-zone start and end times" of the currently selected day-time-zone get displayed. This is useful, cause dusk and dawn are of course rather short in relation to day and night.

I think now we can adjust all possible things inside the msn files.
If all work without bugs, this could be EAW1.3.

1.28Fv4 version 4 patch:
From Jel (posted 2-07-2012)

The 1.28F exe is fully TM2 compatible, so it allows for more than 64 tiles which is the whole point of TM2.
Many of the main changes associated with the TM2 involve the moving of hard coded data from the eaw.exe into external files.

In particular the names of the tiles are in the new "TileBase.str" file. The default version has been added to the "TEXT_ENG.CDF".
Some bump tile names have been changed, and some new ones made. Hence, there is now an extended "TERRAIN.CDF" with them in.

The hardcoded bumptile mapping list is now in a file named "BumpVal.eaw".
If this file is not present then the exe uses the default version on the "EAWTM2" folder.
Hence, the "EAWTM2" folder containing the file is included and is vital.

The adaption of Will Gee's TM2 work means that:
1. Instead of using the "eaw.tm" file the exe uses a "eaw32.tm" file, with four bytes for each tile instead of one.
2. Instead of using the "eaw_ttd.dat" file the exe uses a "Geawttd2.dat" file.
This has a header which includes the number of tiles, and allows variation as modders build more scenarios with additional tile. Both of these files are included in the extended "DATA.CDF" file.
 

A change only in V4 is the disabling of the CRC check routine
Another change is the removal of the hardcoded texture mapping list into a matching pair of stringfiles "TextMap1.str" and "TextMap2.str". These are in the extended "TEXT_ENG.CDF" file.
A change new to in V4 is the disabling of the CRC check routine which normally runs in single mission mode when a player clicks "Load" on the parameters screen.
This CRC check prevents edited "*.msn"files from being listed for selection, but serves no really useful purpose at all.
V4 will now list edited "*.msn"files for selection.


The package is in a 7-zip self installer to be run in your EAW 1.28e folder.
It will install:
The three extended CDF files all of which are 1.28e compatible.
This "info.txt" file.
The "EAWTM2" folder.
An OAW128 folder with the 1.28F exe in a "E-1.28FV1" folder, and also the "G-68TilesTM2" folder with a 68 tile test scenario.

Additionally there are "DAW128E", "FAW128EBeta1", "Malta128E", "SAW128E" and "SPAW" folders for the DirSet Picker/OAW128
users containing files which need to be added to these folders. Allowing them to "merge" is all at you need to do.

MSN CRC Check 1.28FV4
From ?? (posted ??-??-2012)

One change has been made from V3. The CRC check when "*.msn" files are read has been disabled allowing this exe to display edited "*.msn" files for selection.

Three Extended CDFs:
From Jel (posted 2-06-2012)

Note:
One of the three extended CDFs has been modified ....so make sure that they are all re-installed.

The online version has been changed.
Transparency link files are included in the extended "TEXT_ENG.CDF".

Default TileBase String Info:
From Jel (2-06-2012)

The default "TileBase.str" file in the TEXT_ENG.CDF reads as follows:

Field8
Grass
Water
Coast1
Coast3
Coast2
Field1
Field2
Field5
Field4
Alcty
Alcty2
Alcty3
Alcty4
River1
River2
River9
River4
River5
River6
River7
River8
Mount1
Mount4
Mount3
Mount2
Forst4
Forst1
Forst5
Forst6
Forst3
Forst2
Coast4
Coast5
Road1
Road2
Road6
Road4
Field7
Road8
Road9
Forst7
Alcty5
Rivrnd
Coast6
Road10
Alcty9
Field6
Alcty7
Alcty8
costu1
costu2
costbr
rivrbr
rivrfk
costrv
rivrtr
costct
costtr
alcty6
base
field3
field9
river3
COAST7
ROAD3
ROAD5
ROAD7
Til068
Til069
Til070
and so on to
Til255

So for now it lists the original 59 tiles plus Moggy's extra five.
Then it lists COAST7, ROAD3, ROAD5 and ROAD7 which are the additional tiles John sent me so I could test TM2, which I did with the island south of Dover.
After that the mythical "Til068" to "Til255" names are listed.

Obviously a modder would need to create a "TileBase.str" file with the correct names for their tiles.

The exe is programmed to read these base names and build

Coast1 => BNCoast1 => BNCoast1.ter
Coast1 => BPCoast1 => BPCoast1.ter
Coast1 => LRCoast1 => LRCoast1.ter

For HM2 a future exe could build
Coast1 => Coast1.mpf to read an individual tile height map.

There are no BNTil068.ter .... BNTil255.ter tiles or their LR and BP equivalents, but now the exe only loads tile data if the tile exists, instead of crashing with a "not found" error message.

.ter Extender Removal:
From Jel (??-??-2012)

In view of feedback from the V15 TM2 exe I will produce a 1.28F exe and upload the exe and the code.
There will be a couple of changes which will be included to help the HM2 development. One of these has been flagged before, and it involves removing the ".ter" extender from the names of the tiles in the external file so that "BNFIELD8.ter" is just "BNFIELD8" etc. Modified routines will replace the ".ter" when needed, but this leaves the future possibility of having a "BNFIELD8.hm2" with an individual height adjustment for that tile if that is the direction we decide to take.
 

[END v1.28f]

v1.28e_Fixes The Code Group - release (See Dates Below)

Here's a few incomplete notes on fixes Knegel applied to 1.28e after it's release. I assume these changes made it into later versions.

1.28e v21 (8-11-2012)
-unknown

EAW1.28e_Fix12.zip (1-13-2012)
-only the AI combat routines got adjusted. I started this two weeks back, when i adjusted the flight files for the new bullet trajectory routines. The main goal was to make the Ai´s able to get a shot onto a smooth turning plane and to get into a good shooting position on easy targets. This sounds easy but its not. Till now the EAW Ai´s wasnt able to shoot to a smooth turning plane, when they was perfect on the targets tail position. The target then had to turn into the Ai´s flightpath, often such a "turn fight" ended near the ground, where the target had to level out, then the Ai could shoot. Now the Ai´s can maneuver into this smooth flightpath to get a shot.
-Additionally the other combat routines and maneuver select routines got adjusted as well, it should be more difficult to shoot a Ace down now and its more difficult to get them off the tail.

EAW1.28e_Fix10.zip (12-24-2011)
EAW1.28e_Fix10_Planes.zip
-Here you get the updated Planes folder (NOTE: This planes folder is made to work with EAW1.28e_Fix10, with older exe´s the result is not what is should be). NOTE: Before installing the updated "Planes" folder, please rename or delete the old before!!
-the main thing is damagemodel related., damage model stuff.
-The new hitbubble form.
-The bullets (1st time in our EAW history) now lose speed, as such the trajectory now is way more realistic.
Due to this we now can use the realistic muzzel velocity of the guns(the main reason for the planes folder update).
Before we the bullets had a constant velocity of around 80% of the real MuzzVel, but this gave not realistic results on very short range and even worse it was on very long range, cause the bullets didn't fall down fast enough.
EX: the bullets of the wingmounted FW190A guns in EAW1.28e are in 100m distance still around 90 cm below the aimpoint (sight line), so in many cases the bullets will fail, although you did aim well. At same distance the bullets of the real guns are just 20 cm below the aimpoint. On the other hand, in 350m distance the real bullets are 80-85 cm above the aimpoint and then they fall down very fast. Already in 700m it should be hopeless to hit at all, cause the bullets already fall down.
As you can see, in EAW1.28e this was total different, on long range the guns was way to good.
So now this is one important point closer to an realistic behavior. Now everybody can experience why the MK108 in combination with the 262 was horrible for grounsattacks. Oh yes, the mighty MK108 (wingmounted in the 109A8) had a highest point over the sightline of 110cm in already 300m distance, in already 500m the bullet already was down to the sightline and in 600m it was already 1,2m below it(hopeless to hit anything.
-Otherwise i did change only the gun rearm routine, so that the plane just need to stand still, the brakes are not needed anymore.

EAW1.28e_Fix08.zip (12-10-2011)
-somebody(?) not Knegel) replaced the real Doppler sound effect with a fake effect, which is just exhaust direction related. Try a quick mission where a bunch of enemy fighters are flying straight towards you and note the pitch change during the high speed pass. Turn down all other sounds in settings and turn up "external sounds" to test this. In 1.2 there is very pronounced pitch change under these conditions. In 1.28(a,b and e), however, the pitch does not change anywhere near as much, if at all. The new effects seem to be "simulating" the Doppler effect by changing the pitch depending on the position of the listener, not the relative speed. The problem with the way 1.28 (a,b and e) works is that if you pass a plane at high speed from BEHIND (let's say making a pass at B17s in a 262), pitch change will be REVERSE of what you'd hear in real life! Trying the example in 1.28 (262 flying past B-17's from behind) and indeed, the fly-by sound was reversed. But now I(Knegel) have re-enabled the real effect and minimized the exhaust direction effect. After a little more tests now the Doppler effect works as before and as it should!! I never was aware that it got disabled, but now after its on again I must say the sound was horrible without it.
-This SoundDist.mpf is not needed at all, the game work without! Its just a example, you can open it with notepad and change the values to get other max distances for the different sounds. It can be located in the EAW root folder, or inside one of the EAW setup folders(ETO_01, SAW1.28 etc). Like almost all mpf´s the SoundDist.mpf is not needed to run EAW. If its not present the default distance setup get used, its just a option.
-I have no idea if to long distances can cause problems with the game performance, but when i set the max distance for bomb and flak explosions to 2000 (YARD) or higher, the game turn to be very immersive, when you fly over a frontline or through flak fire.
-Also longer engine sound distances are nice.
-if one lose altitude or down, or simply landed or no ammo , AI stay with you and ignores orders to follow attacking the formation of bombers, fixed it, we can now send the Ai´s home or to the next/previous waypoint, after we landed.

EAW1.28e_Fix06.zip (10-31-2011)
-a bug related to a loadout-screen related CTD got fixed.
-The inflight plane information's (down left) and the radiochat (up left) got shifted inward a bit, cause on some wide screen monitors they are particular hidden otherwise.

EAW1.28e_Fix04.zip (6-26?-2011)
just a bug in the engine sound loading routines got fixed.

EAW1.28e_Fix03.zip (6-23?-2011)
3rd controller support was implemented, up to three controllers get supported. I did test this with three other sticks together and it work.

EAW1.28e_Fix02.zip (6-02?-2011)
-two more bugs we found recently got fixed.
-structural limits was adjusted continued
-It include a adjustable prop rotation speed and
After you run the game once, you will find a PropRotationSpeed= 8 entry in the eaw.ini.
-Other implementations/fixes was a way better AI ground attack behavior. The AI´s now aim better with their bombs and also attack other than the main target. If a human lead the flight, stay close to the target area and repeat the "attack ground target" command from time to time, the AI´s also will strafe the targets.
In this way its possible to destroy many objects of an airfield, even light AAA and heavy Flak.
In one of my testgames my squad had a radar station as target, the 1st 4 Ju88C´s already did the job, so the AI´s attacked the airfield nearby. Here almost all objects got destroyed as well.
This was an extreme, i never again got that good results, but thats imho the best in EAW, nothing is in stone, there is always variation. Sometimes the Ai´s still will miss badly, sometimes they hit very well.

EAW1.28e_Fix01.zip (5-29-2011)
Here is a not complete list of the fixes:
A former disabled routine got re-enabled. This routine is not needed by most, but some systems need it, otherwise a CTD will happen.
In the interdiction selection was a naming bug (Ships and WarShips was called the same).
In Glide screen resolutions > 1600x1200 was disabled due to a bug. (actually 1600x1200 is the biggest resolution in Glide mode, but now you get this if you choose a bigger resolution).
The structural limit routines got adjusted. At speeds above critical mach the planes will take damages. Also high G-forces can cause problems, specially when the plane got damaged before. We now have a value to adjust the structure of the plane.
The ground attack Ai routines got adjusted. They now also use their guns successfully (more or less:) ).
The propeller rotation speed got increased. (....different PC´s cant display all the same rotation speed.)

There was more in Fix01, but i cant remember. lol



 

[END v1.28e_Fixes]

v1.28e The Code Group - release (August 2010-Fixes; up to 2012)

This section is to include 1.28e and the Fixes done after release, as listed above.

 

INSTALLING

March 28 2011 This is an older build of the 1.28e game. More updates followed as listed above in the next section.

128E.zip (57 Meg)
ETOsound.zip (38 Meg)
Planes.zip (98 Meg)
savedata.zip (271 KB)

Compatibility:

• The first exe to use the "Planes" folder and "Planeset" folders; This release comes with a "Planes" folder and the "ETO_01" theatre with four planesets. (See the MODDERS INFORMATION below)
   
• The biggest change is that individual aircraft data can be used. Those "30 plane" files such as "planes.dat" have been broken up into single plane files, to enable packages to be made. There are two types which work together in combination, one containing flight data, and the other containing graphical data. It is done this way so that although a user might choose an ETO, desert, or a South East Asian Spitfire V skin, the flight data will be the same. (from version 1.28e)
   
• Split Multi-Plane-Files; The 30 plane files (planes.dat, loadout.dat, minipics, pnames.str) have been split into individual ones, so now the exe can use plane00.dat...plane29.dat files rather than planes.dat. (from version v1.28e)
   
• We where able to split the Planes.dat off, so that each plane get its own Plane**.dat, same goes for the loadout. This splitted *.dat files are located in the "Planes" folder, this planes you only should edit, if you dont want to fly online!!
  
  Otherwise you still can load a "old" FM/DM setups (30 ***.flt´s + one Planes.dat + one loadout.dat + weapons.dat etc) into the EAW root, this setup can get adjusted with the old tools and it use the old FM/DM routines within the EAW.exe.
   

FEATURES/Fixes/Enhancement/Improvements/Changes

Flight/Damage Model:

• unknown
   
• FM/DM got updated to RPv2.8e (The new tools to adjust the flight files are "F-edit.exe", LOEdit2010.exe and airgrid2010.exe.) Same like the Flight model, the damage model is absolute new, though, for years many people used my(Knegel) "EAWrp" FM/DM´s, they where very similar to whats in this version of the game.
   
• When you land, you can break your undercarriage, if you turn to rapidly (the toughness of the undercarriage can get adjusted in the flight files). (from version ?.??)
   
• Hit Bubbles and Damage model (DM); "...Hit bubbles were modified because the 1.28 series of exes have gun conversion for wing mounted guns. It makes the game much more immersive!..." The stock EAWv1.2 FM/DM´s, (like the ECApanel FM/DM´s) had incredible big hit bubbles, resulting is incredible easy kills from distances up to 1500m, even with small MG´s. As result 10-15 kills with one Bf109E ammo load was possible, then the cannons was not really needed. Also all the damage power of the cannons was poor in relation to the MG´s and especially the 30mm was most "underdone", while the .30cal was most overdone.
  
  This did lead to hardcoded plane specific hacks inside the exe to even this out a little, where the gunpower of the Bf110c-slot, but also the Hurri-Slot and Spit1a-Slot got reduced again. This plane slot specific hacks made a Spit1a in the Spit9 slot different to the default Spit1a, although the used external files was the same.
  
  I(Knegel) then erased all plane slot related bindings and hacks from the EAW1.28a/b/c/d code (there was also many hardcoded AI/plane-slot related stuff) and I rewrote the complete bullet damage power routine. Cause of this and the new guns convergence the external FM/DM related files needed a new setup as well.
   
• I also did delete the old "realistic gunnery off" routine, cause it was just a lasergun like joke, where the hit of just a few MG bullets led to exploding any opponent. Instead a new "realistic gunnery off" routine got implemented, which make the gun power only a little more powerful. Since a damage model, same like a flight model, is in some degrees subjective, I wouldn't call this option "not realistic", its now just a usable second option.
  
  For all who want to use a even more easy setup, you can load one of the lot older FM/DM´s(EAWrp´s, ECApanel etc), then its similar easy like the EAW1.2 "realistic gunnery off".
  If you want it a little harder again, open your EAW.ini and set "OldDamage=1".
  This enable a similar gun power setup like it was in EAW1.2, but with a generic guns convergence setting.
   
• The structural limit routines got adjusted. At speeds above critical mach the planes will take damages. Also high G-forces can cause problems, specially when the plane got damaged before. We now have a value to adjust the structure of the plane.
   
• The bullets (1st time in our EAW history) now lose speed, as such the trajectory now is way more realistic.
  Due to this we now can use the realistic muzzel velocity of the guns(the main reason for the planes folder update).
  Before we the bullets had a constant velocity of around 80% of the real MuzzVel, but this gave not realistic results on very short range and even worse it was on very long range, cause the bullets didn't fall down fast enough.
  EX: the bullets of the wingmounted FW190A guns in EAW1.28e are in 100m distance still around 90 cm below the aimpoint (sight line), so in many cases the bullets will fail, although you did aim well. At same distance the bullets of the real guns are just 20 cm below the aimpoint. On the other hand, in 350m distance the real bullets are 80-85 cm above the aimpoint and then they fall down very fast. Already in 700m it should be hopeless to hit at all, cause the bullets already fall down.
  As you can see, in EAW1.28e this was total different, on long range the guns was way to good.
  So now this is one important point closer to an realistic behavior. Now everybody can experience why the MK108 in combination with the 262 was horrible for grounsattacks. Oh yes, the mighty MK108 (wingmounted in the 109A8) had a highest point over the sightline of 110cm in already 300m distance, in already 500m the bullet already was down to the sightline and in 600m it was already 1,2m below it(hopeless to hit anything.

Loadout:

• unknown
   
• An increased weapons.dat (more different weapons). A Flexible Weapons.dat Size, change the weapons.dat usage. We can have max 64 different weapon types.  The really used number is flexible and depends on the weapon.dat file header and related number of loadouts. We can increase the size even more, if you need it. A new "default" weapons.dat is now used. Wth an increased number of loadout slots (all planes can now have many loadout options). The currently default weapon types should stay untouched, to keep backward compatibility (or you need to rewrite all and every single EAW1.28c/d loadout).
   
• 5 racks where added.
   
• Can select/deselect gunpods. (from version ?.??)

Particle:

• unknown

Graphics:

• unknown
   
• The biggest chang is the possibility to use 512x512 textures(in game)
   
• The 1024x768 screens (pre game) and a more flexible main screen menu system...
   
• The graphic quality is the possibility to use 512x512 textures (in game), Only 1.28e is programmed to handle the 512x512 bmp files; Skins can all be 512x512 24bit BMP. (Any old single texture aircraft, can easily be converted by simply resizing an old 256 PCX to 512 BMP and simply repainted with new detail.) That goes for Tmods too. Only problem we have with 512 is cockpit gauges, which mess up the VCG settings.
   
• Fonts for the logbook where changed from Tiny Font to the Hand Written Font.

Views:

• The default virtual cockpit art resolution got changed from 800x600 to 1024x786, cause its more smooth at higher resolutions.
   
• The propeller rotation speed got increased. (....different PC´s cant display all the same rotation speed.) Prop rotation speed can now be set in the eaw.ini.
   
• The inflight plane hud text information (down left) and the radiochat (up left) got shifted inward a bit, cause on some wide screen monitors they are particular hidden otherwise.

Difficulty/Settings:

• unknown
   
• we can choose between up to 5 different plane sets without having to leave the game.
   
• Up to 10 selectable plane sets in total. (from version ?.??)
   
• The currently selected plane set description show up. As you can see on the Main screen (opening screen), we now can display a description (top center ("ETO Early" for an example). A full preview for all 10 plane sets would be to distorted as they would require much space, so you need to click to the plane set number to see what is behind it. At least you don't need to leave the config screen to see what you did select
   
• 'Wet Engine Starts' can now be disabled when setting skill level to "easy". Goto configure game"(game set-up)-> "difficulty" -> "combat" -> "Player skill" = green.
   
• Can now handle more complex setups from within the games frontend. This is done by loading very tiny "pointer files" into the EAW root. If you take ETO_01 as example, you can switch between 5 Planesets (Default , ETO early, ETO late, Russia early, russia late) and the seasons switch automatically with the Mission date. With this, no files get copied/deleted on your PC, instead the planes from one and the same "Planes" folder get used to create the different plane sets. (With OAW1.28e you can create new or change existing plane sets to your need(the latter is not allowed if you want to fly online with the setup in question)).
   

• Improved Plane Selection; Improved the in-game-plane-set-selection. With EAWv1.28c we where able to select between up to 5 different plane sets, (if the modder provide them), by help of a related EAW.ini setting, but we only could switch between two of them from within the game. With EAWv1.28e the "Configure Game" screen the "Plane Set Selection" can have up to 5 buttons(0-4). If a setup don't have any special plane sets, the whole "Plane Set Selection" area will not be present. If a setup have only 3 Plane Sets available, only the numbers of the available plane set folders will show up. I will provide two additional plane sets for the default world, so this feature can then get used right away.
   

• In Glide, screen resolutions > 1600x1200 was disabled due to a bug. (actually 1600x1200 is the largest resolution in Glide mode, but now you get this if you choose a larger resolution).

Sound:

• unknown
   
• Added two more gun shot sounds for slow and extreme slow firing guns. (Three 'big' gun sounds in total)
  These sounds get selected in the planes.dat, so each plane with a heavy slow firing gun(Ju87G, P39, Yak9T etc) now can have the correct gun sound. (The problem really lies in the fact that the sounds are not tied to the barrel flash. What you can't see at normal barrel flash speeds is that the sound starts as soon as you pull the trigger but the first flash doesn't come out the barrel until the end of the delay number. At low firing speeds it becomes apparent. You pull the trigger and the sound goes "BOOM" but the flash doesn't show up for a long time. What I did was add some silence to the beginning of the cannon sound file and with some trial and error I got the flash and boom to sync up. The down side is that you have to hold the trigger down for about 1-2 seconds to have anything happen. A relatively minor issue since this only affects the B25H/J and The HS129 88mm variant.)
   
• Also longer engine sound distances
   
• This SoundDist.mpf; Adjustable sound distances. You can open it with notepad and change the values to get other max distances for the different sounds. It can be located in the EAW root folder, or inside one of the EAW setup folders(ETO_01, SAW1.28 etc). Like almost all mpf´s the SoundDist.mpf is not needed to run EAW. If its not present the default distance setup get used, its just a option.
   

A.I.:

• unknown
   
• The ground attack Ai routines got adjusted. They now also use their guns successfully (more or less:)
   
• Way better AI ground attack behavior. The AI´s now aim better with their bombs and also attack other than the main target. If a human lead the flight, stay close to the target area and repeat the "attack ground target" command from time to time, the AI´s also will strafe the targets. its possible to destroy many objects of an airfield, even light AAA and heavy Flak.
   
• if one lose altitude or down, or simply landed or no ammo , AI stay with you and ignores orders to follow attacking the formation of bombers, fixed it, we can now send the Ai´s home or to the next/previous waypoint, after we landed.
   
• only the AI combat routines got adjusted. I started this two weeks back, when i adjusted the flight files for the new bullet trajectory routines. The main goal was to make the Ai´s able to get a shot onto a smooth turning plane and to get into a good shooting position on easy targets. This sounds easy but its not. Till now the EAW Ai´s wasnt able to shoot to a smooth turning plane, when they was perfect on the targets tail position. The target then had to turn into the Ai´s flightpath, often such a "turn fight" ended near the ground, where the target had to level out, then the Ai could shoot. Now the Ai´s can maneuver into this smooth flightpath to get a shot.
   
• Additionally the other combat routines and maneuver select routines got adjusted as well, it should be more difficult to shoot a Ace down now and its more difficult to get them off the tail.

Ground:

• unknown
   
• Support a 128 objects per tile eaw_ttd.dat file rather than the old 64 objects per tile. 

Controls:

• unknown
   
• With the more fragile undercarriages i found the brake toggle system rather disturbing. Often i press "b" (brake) and then the braking moment is so hard that the undercarriage collapse. Its not good possible to use the button like a real brake, where you just need to release the pedal and the brake moment stop. Specially cause we don't have a smooth starting brake this seems to be a problem.
  
  Today i changed the brakes for a test. After game start the brakes are enabled as usual, after a short push they are disabled (as usual), but now the button work like a pedal. Push the button = brake, release the button = no brake. If you push the button around 10 seconds in a row, the brakes get static enabled again.
  There is just one main brake coded, but i did implement propeller thrust related rudder and elevator influences when rolling on the ground. With this its possible to turn the plane where you stand and yopu can raise the tail right away, but you must be carefully not to nose over.
  Full power, stick hard forward will end in a rather fast "nose over". You can adjust this "nose over moment" by reducing the throttle and elevator variation. Similar its with the rudder, full throttle and full rudder (brakes on) let the plane turn slow to the wanted direction, if you now raise the tail, it will turn way more fast.
   
• 3rd controller support was implemented, up to three controllers get supported. I did test this with three other sticks together and it work.

Missions:

• unknown
   
• the seasons switch fully automatically with the date
   
• up to 4 frontlines in single mission mode; the stock EAW supported only two frontlines in single mission mode. This was already bad, cause 1944 and 45 used the same frontline. In EAW1.28 we did add a 3rd frontline, so that 1944 got its own frontline. For the default wester European setup thats enough, but not for DAW, SAW, Russia, FAW etc, where the frontlines was moving way faster. So now we can adjust the frontlines to be used in the 4 possible years by an simple "text" file (similar to the EAW.ini). With the other possibility's of EAW1.28e we now could generate a single mission campaign with many different frontlines, targets and planes per year, without the need to even leave EAW.

Multiplayer:

• The hosts plane set will get used and also the hosts mission date. As result all players will see the same season and planes. Can handle 12 fully automatically switching seasonal setups. Each of these setups can include a FMDir.set, a PDir.set, a terrain, a frntline.dat, screens and campaigns/squad files.
   
• 5 automatically switching seasons (spring, summer, fall, light winter, winter). (from version ?.??)
   
• Max 16 players can take part in a game.
   
• change the gun rearm routine, so that the plane just need to stand still, the brakes are not needed anymore.

INI Entries:

• unknown
   
• OldDamage= This EAW.ini entry is now obsolete. Now it will switch on automatically...
   
• PropRotationSpeed= 8 default entry in the eaw.ini after you run the game once, you will it.

-The remainder of 1.28e development were bug fixes and a few tweaks here and there...

MODDERS INFORMATION

• Up to 12 automatically switching plane sets or frontline files or weather setups etc (one per month). It can handle 12 fully automatically switching seasonal setups;  Each of these setups can include a FMDir.set, a PDir.set, a terrain, a frntline.dat, screens and campaigns/squad files.
  
  In cooperation with the automatically moving mission date (after each single mission flown), its possible to create a real single mission campaign, without the need of a additional manager.

  In theory you can fly with every plane in any year for at least one "game year". And this with forward and backward going frontlines, switching plane types and seasonal graphics. In this way its possible to fly in the SpitIXc slot and switch from SpitVC to SpitIXc Merlin61 and then, a few month later to Spitfire Merlin66 and on the other side you can fly in the 109G slot and switch from 109F4 to 109G2, then to 109G6 and then, in mid 1943 to 109G6 with WEP.
  
  Regarding the plane stuff you just need to create the PDir.set and FMDir.set files. If you want to add new skins, its also no problem, we can add as many skins to the planes folder as we like. (from version ?.??)
   

• For the modders:
  Inside each plane set folder, all plane related addons can and should get stored, like Hangar screens, skins, sound**.mpf´s, year.mpf, vc_offset**.mpf´s, squad**.dats frntline.dat, flight files etc.
  
  As always this is just a option, but very useful for the user, if he can D/L for example a fully working SPAW, where he can choose from inside the game, if he want to use the default plane set or the "What if, 1946" plane set, or a complete new plane set.
  
   
• Cruise altitudes adjustable with an external file; by default the different cruise altitudes was hardcoded in the stock eaw.exe. Now we can load a CruiseAlt.mpf to adjust the offline related cruise altitudes (important for people who create campaigns).
  Here we have 12 different values:
  1940_low
  1940_med
  1940_high
  1943_low
  1943_med
  1943_high
  1944_low
  1944_med
  1944_high
  1945_low
  1945_med
  1945_high
  
  And additionally we can load a CruiseAltMP.mpf to adjust the multiplayer cruise altitudes.
  Here we have the same layout of values, but additionally we can adjust the cruise altitude of the mission in 3000 feet steps.
  
  This is possible cause now the cruise altitude is a "host setting" (the datas get send to the clients). In the default game the cruise altitude got generated on each PC in a rather static way (much different cruise altitudes on different PC´s in the same mission would have had strange results).
  
  Now iam working on a "advantage" setting, which set the cruise altitude (this is also the start altitude while an airstart) of one side higher than that of the other side. This can be important to give planes like the P47D or P51 an initial advantage (with SuperChargers), what they had rather often in real life.

   

To get a better idea of what has changed, first a little review the way it is with EAW1.2:
From Jel (in 2015)

With EAW1.2 and most other EAW.exe´s addon only could be loaded into the EAW root directory. So if we wanted to load a new campaign, we had to unload other possibly loaded stuff, then we could load the new files. These files could have a size (all together) of 100MB or more.
As result it was better to keep separate EAW installations, one for each setup. Since EAW can cover all possible and impossible WWII theatres and also the Spanish civil war and even Korea, a player could have 20 separate EAW installations, where all installations was rather static...

In EAW1.28C we did introduce a "folder system", where we could store files, to be used by the exe, by loading a tiny "pointer file" into the EAW root. By using this system we already needed only one EAW installation + the related sub folders, where the campaign files are placed.
An absolute new feature of EAW1.28c was the moving date, with every flown mission and the possibility to create a new date related seasonal setups, and depending to the current season, the correct terrain etc got used.
This already was a major breakthrough, cause the first time we saw snow in Winter and the fitting terrain in summer etc, without the need to load the graphic by hand and without the need to leave the game.
With EAW1.28c introduced the possibility to use "plane set" folders, where we where able to load up to 5 different plane sets, but just 2 from inside the game.

During the development of 1.28d we found a way to break up those 30 plane files such as "planes.dat", "loadout.dat" and "pnames.str" into individual files for each plane. As a result we started working on a new exe that could make use of this critical breakthrough.

It brought in the use of "Planeset" folders for theatres. These contain "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files which the exe reads to locate the skin and flight data for each of the 30 planes. This was the greatest strength of 1.28e, and as it developed a few other changes were made such as the selection of mission time relating to sunrise and sunset.

In v1.28e, to be able to do this we adjusted the "folder-system", so that each plane FM/DM can stay in its own "Planes" folder and the related plane graphics (skin, hanger screen etc) also can stay in their own folders, inside the EAW root and can get used in a endless number of plane sets. (These folders can be "read only" or even "hidden", cause once a plane is ready, we don't need to touch the files again, we just point the exe to the wanted folders.)

So we only need to store each FM and plane graphic just one time, but we can use it in all possible setups.
This is done by two little "pointer-files", where we have the needed tool to create and change them on the fly.
So if a player wants to fly a 109G2 instead of a 109G6, he just needs to point the exe to the 109G2 FM and to the wanted graphic folder (skin/hangar screen etc).

With the EAW1.28e release we already offer a basic ETO setup, with a seasonal terrain setup and 5 different plane sets, where the player can select the wanted planeset from within the game in "configure game". So with this release we will have around 60 different ETO plane types available + the FAW (Finnish Air War) planes.
Here is list:
Slot00: P38F, P38H, I-16 Type18, I-16 Type24, HurriII_VVS
Slot01: P38J, P40N, I-153, Mig-3
Slot02: P47C, MartletII, Yak-7b
Slot03: P47D, P40E, IL-2
Slot04: P51B, P51A, Yak-1, Yak-1b
Slot05: P51D, P40C, P39N, P39Q, P39Q(no wing guns)
Slot06: B17F, B17G, TB-3, A-20G
Slot07: B24, A20G, Pe-2(early), Pe-2(late)
Slot08: B26a, Beaufighter IVF, DB-3, IL-4
Slot09: HurriIa, SpitVc LF cw, I-16 Type18, I-16 Type24
Slot10: Spit1a, SpitIXc Merlin70, Lagg3(41), Lagg3(43)
Slot11: SpitIXc Merlin61, SpitIXc Merlin66, Yak9T, Yak9U
Slot12: Spit14e, SpitVc, I-153,
Slot13: TyphoonII, SpitVb, La5, La5F, La5FN
Slot14: TempestV, Hurri IIc, P40E
Slot15: Mosquito, BlenheimIVF, SB2
Slot16: 109E4, 109G2, B-239, GladiatorII(FAF)
Slot17: 109G6, 109G2, 109F2,
Slot18: 109K4, 109F4, Curtis75(FAF)
Slot19: 110C4, 109G14, MS406(FAF)
Slot20: 110G2, 110D, BlenheimI(FAF)
Slot21: 410A, 410B, 109E7b, BlenheimIV(FAF)
Slot22: 190A4, 190A3, 190A6, Fiat G50(FAF)
Slot23: 190D9, 190A4, FokkerDXXIw(FAF), FokkerDXXIm(FAF)
Slot24: 262a, 109G2, 109G6, GladiatorII(FAF)
Slot25: J88A5, J88A5,
Slot26: J88C3, Ta152H, Do17Z
Slot27: Ju87B, Ju87D, FokkerCX
Slot28: H111P, FW190A8, SB-2
Slot29: V1, Do17Z, Hurri1(FAF)

Just a little clarification to the plane-set´s:
From Knegel (posted ??)

On Mr.Jellys MainScreen you see just plane set 1, 2 and 3 and "CDF".
If you mark "CDF" the default FM/DM´s, hangarscreens and plane skins get used, out of the ***.CDF files, as long as no addon files get loaded into the EAW root directory.

The Plane sets itself include only a few addon files, like a fitting main screen or plane selection screen. The planes itself are stored in their own specific folders, where we distinguish between flight model and graphics. Each plane folder is stored in the related "plane slot" folder and all 30 "plane slot" folders are stored inside one "Planes" folder.


Now we offer FMDir.set and PDir.set file, in the 1st all wanted flight models(FM) are listed, in the next all wanted plane skins are listed. This files normally are located inside the Planeset1 to Planeset10 folder. By selecting one of the planeset´s under "Configure Game", the exe read the FMDir.set and PDir.set files inside the related Planeset folder and so it "know" which plane it shal use.

As result we store each FM/DM and plane skin just one time, but use it in as many planeset´s as we like.

The Latest OAW selector also allow to create customized "FMDir.set" and "PDir.set" files. This files also work from the EAW root directory, like any other EAW addon. So with EAW1.28e it will be incredible easy to fly a La7 alongside with a Spit14 vs a 109K4 and Ta152H, or even a Fiat G50 or a French MS406 with Finnish markings.

Once all WWII planes are offered to be included into the "Planes" folder, you can even fly a Zero together with a 109E vs a Spit1a and Hawk75.

No files need to get loaded anymore, all comes from special folders, where each addon need to get stored only one time, but can get used in many different setups.

I only hope the addon makers jump onto the train and offer their stuff ready packed for this advanced EAW.
Otherwise Mr.Jelly or i will do it.

You need to understand what the Dir.set system is.
From Jel (posted ??)

With the commercially released version of EAW and the patches provided as an update such as 1.1 and 1.2 the eaw.exe looks for any file it needs in just two places.
The first place is in the EAW folder.
If the file is not there it looks in the appropriate CDF file, so if it needs the "p38h.flt" file it reads the one packed in the FLT.CDF file.

This system allowed modding, because the eaw.exe would use a "p38h.flt" file that is in the EAW folder in preference to the one in the FLT.CDF file.
So, modding put hundreds of files in the root folder, and file managers such as OAW moved them in and out of the root folder as required.

It worked well, but the continuous file movement caused disk fragmentation to accelerate and this could become a problem. It got worse when multiskins arrived.
As a result we came up with a new system in the 1.28 series when we programmed the exe to check for a "Dir.set" file in the EAW folder, and read it if it found one.
A "Dir.set" file contains the name of a folder and a list of subfolders to look for files in.

The one for ETO01 reads

ETO_01
PIC
NULL

If this particular file is in the EAW folder then the eaw.exe looks for any game file it needs it looks in the EAW folder first.
If it is not there it looks in the ETO_01 folder, then in the PIC sub folder.
If it is not there then it looks in the appropriate CDF file.

NULL is always added to the list to indicate the end of the list.

So this "Dir.set" system gives the 1.28 series of exes other places to look for the game files in addition to the EAW folder and the CDFs. It reduces the movement of files in and out of the EAW folder to a bare minimum thereby fixing the disk fragmentation problem.

What the "DirSet Picker" and "DirSetExeManager" both do is to copy a file selected from the list, and paste it into the EAW folder but renamed as "Dir.set" so that the eaw.exe reads it.

Tmod scheme in 128E
Pobs (1-01-2012)

well, I will take a swing at it, then others can correct me so we get a definitive version....

we can have models 0 - 255

the base set of 3dz files for a tmod are the same as before but the skins are numbered grnd***.tpc to correspond to the model slot number. No third digit needed on the models numbered 0 to 99

Each slot can have a tmod, tmog, tmof, and tmfg model in them, these correspond to the allied, axis, allied frontline, and axis frontline versions of the model.

I dont know the naming convention for the skins of the other models in a slot are, probably grng***.tpc, grnf***.tpc, grfg***.tpc. but that needs clarifying.

The models to be used in trains and convoys are now set by mpf files, called :

Convoy composition:
ShipList.mpf
WarList.mpf
TrnList.mpf
TrukList.mpf
ArmList.mpf

Each of these contains 10 TMod numbers which are the TMod order of MGOs in a convoy.
They are read for ship, warship, train, truck, and armoured column interdictions respectively.
The mgo order is repeated if there are more than 10 vehicles.
The odd one out is the TrnList.mpf which assumes that there is an engine and a tender at the start and lists the 10 "carriages".

Capital setting:
CapSet.mpf
A two line file with the TCode (targets.dat order number) value for the Allied capital followed by the Axis capital.
It can be critical in terms of setting the two sides of the front line, so that bases and targets are displayed correctly for selection.
As far as I know this is the only time that targets are refenced by their TCode value in the game, rather than by their "tarnames.str" order number which is of course stored in "targets.dat".

Some of the above information is not finalized in 1.3.

The Subfolder System
Knegel (posted 6-22-2010)

imho the most important, but initially not good visible feature of the EAW1.28 series is the subfolder system with all its features. 

Here a little clarification to this: 

By default all addon had to get loaded into the EAW root directory. As we know this often did lead to trouble, cause all possible files are in just one folder. As long as we load just one addon(one skin, one terrain etc) its ok, but its very difficult to make changings to a once running big setup(campaign, skin set etc). 
So the user had two possibilitys: 
1. Keep many static EAW setups on the HD. 
2. Use a addon manager to keep a setup somewhat flexible. 

Many static setups did lead often to 10 or more EAW setups, where often the same addons got stored several times and the plane sets was absolut static, cause it was very difficult to replace a plane with a new. 
Addon managers like Stab, Skins´n More and OAW did allow to keep things more fexible, still it was very difficult to administrate things and often we got CTD´s cause many different reasons, or corrupted setups(mixed up terrains/skins etc). 
To create usable setups was even more difficult. 

Another ugly drawback of the addon manager system was the high rate of HD fragmentation and the possibility to dmage a running setup, by loading a bad or not fitting addon. 

Now we can store addons in different CDF´s or folders and then we can point the EAW.exe to this places. 

One advantage is that no files need to get copyed to the EAW root, as such there is no fragmentation(still the old way is possible and files loaded into the EAW root get used before all other files). 

This folder system also made us able to include a the possibility to use seasonal setups. 
By changings the date routines now the mission date for single missions and multiplayer missions get stored inside the EAW.ini. 
After every mission the date shift forward by some days (In campaigns of course the campaign date from the career files get used). 
Basing on this mission date different folders can get loaded fully automatically. 
So if you fly in december, you will get a winter terrain, if you fly in may, you get spring etc. 

This can get increased to 12 different automatically loading setups(1 per month). 

And of course this also can get used to create single mission related campaigns, cause each setup can include its own frontline and target setup. 

As such it would be possible to create for example a "DAW campaign" splitted in one year parts, with 12 frontline changings. 

Another new most important feature basing on the folder system and the splitted multi-plane-files is the possibility to store planes in single folders. 
(Note:multi-plane-files are files that contain the datas of all 30 available plane slots, like the Planes.dat, pnames.str etc. This files made it very difficult to use something else than static plane sets). 

With EAW1.28e we will offer a "Planes" folder, containing around 90 different planes, where many planes are located in more than one plane slot, so all over we will have around 150 planes available. 
This number can get increased by simple updates. 
Each of this planes include a fitting hangar screen, mini pic, FM/DM and one or more skins. 

This "planes" folder will be located in the EAW root and can be "read only", or even "hidden" to protect it. 

Together with EAW1.28 and this "planes" folder we will offer a basic "ETO_01" setup. 

This setup is stored in its own "ETO_01" folder, also in the EAW root. 
It will contain a seasonal setup with 5 terrains(spring, summer, fall, winter, hard winter) and 5 plane sets. 

The plane sets are another feature basing on the folder system. 
The plane sets can get selected from within the game(configure game). 
The EAW.exe is able to handle 10 different plane sets per loaded setup(ETO, RAW, FAW, DAW etc). 
The plane sets dont include any skins and flight datas itself, they just include a list of files to be used and possibly fitting speach setups, main screen, plane selection screens etc. 

The planes to be used are all stored in the "planes" folder and now the advantage should get clear. Each plane FM/DM and skin, just need to get stored one time on your HD, but can get used in as many different setups as you want. 

To load a new setup, you just need to place one or two 1kb files into your EAW root(Dir.set and maybe a CDF.set file). 
This files will point the EAW.exe to the wanted setup (ETO, DAW, RAW or what ever), where each setup have its own folder inside the EAW root directory. 

Also each main folder contains its own "Savedata" folder and also each planeset folder contains a own "Savedata" folder. As such thelost of CTD´s, related to not fitting single mission and career files wont happen anymore, and stored career files wont need to get deleted anymore, when we load a new setup. 

For the user all this mean: 
Install EAW1.28e. 
Install "ETO_01" 
Install the "Planes" folder 
Install the "Sounds" folder(this folder contains different engine sounds used by the planes). 
Install OAW1.28 

Now the user will be able to use the new EAW to its best. 

Right away he can select choose between 5 different plane sets(default plane set, early west front, late west front, early east front, late east front) and with OAW he can create own plane sets. 


Of course the addon maker still need to adjust their setups to use the full potential of this system. Its same new to the addon makers, like to the normal user. 

And of course still many planes need to be done or adjusted(FM/DM´s but also skins). 

Palette Problems with Min Pics
MrJelly (posted 5-19-2010)

Ralf and I needed a number of 241x160 aircraft minipics for 1.28e.
Pobs sent us 47 raw files of the required size. They looked great in photoshop
I wrote a utility to add line headers and convert them to single "*.wsp" files for use with 1.28e. The game display was terrible
The originals were greyscale and looked fine in photoshop with the greyscale palette, but not the palette used in the game.

The upshot is that this afternoon I wrote a utility to match each greyscale pixel in a loaded file to the nearest one in the game palette, and save to a new file. I was able to batch convert all 47 of them, and make new "*.wsp" files.

Then I wrote another utility to take the first 30 (with identifiable names such as "NewA20 G 1.wsp") and make a set of "fsmpla00.wsp" ..... "fsmpla29.wsp" files from them.
I copied these in the root folder, ran 1.28e, selected a single mission (in 1945), and by changing the mission type and scrolling though the various friendly and enemy AIs I managed to view all of the creations:


The pictures do not match the plane nanes of course- this was just a test to view the minipics.

I then made a new set which contained the remaining 17.

So I now have a utility which will convert greyscale "raw" minipic files into reasonably good minipics, and a neat means of testing them in game.

Individual Planes in Plane Folders
MrJelly (posted 5-05-2010)

The key to having individual planes is the Planes folder located in the EAW directory. It contains Slot00....Slot29 folders. Mine contains a few other utilities and folders which are helping Ralf and I to build these Slot folders, but they would not be there normally.



Opening the Slot05 folder shows the FM and skin folders for 2 planes:


The P40C_01 contains the skin files:



The P40C_FM contains the flight and loadout files:


There can be several skin folders for the P40C (P40C_02, P40C_03 etc), but only one FM folder is needed.

What the P40 folders do not yet contain are minipics, hangar screens and nation files. The reason for having minipics and hangar screens is obvious. The nation files cover skins used by individual airforces, such as RAF and RAAF, and in some cases different countries, which may even fly in opposition. These will go in the skin folder.

The exe will know which planes to use by reading "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files.
If the 1.28E exe finds no "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files in the nominated folders it will use the default aircraft.
The "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files will be supplied along with a stocked "Planes" folder with the 1.28E release, so the user has no need to make them. However, the means of making and saving them is included in the new OAW selector, which I have simplified since yesterday's post:

Running in conjunction with this is the use of the "Dir.set" file and specified folders in the EAW directory.

The one we are working with at the moment is "ETO_01_test" (Many 1.28C/D users already have "ETO_01" and this one is an extension of it)


Inside it are Planeset folders, with files for ETO planes


"PLANESET01" and the others contain a "PDir.set" file and a "FMDir.set" file:


The planeset number is selectable from the config screen of the 1.28E exe, or in the OAW selector.

(Knegel) progress report:

The basic "Planes" folder slowly get´s to be finished.
We just need to create some more screens and minipics and some flightmodels still need to get adjusted.

The user actually dont need to know anything about "PDir.set", "FDir.set" files etc.
With the EAW1.28e release we also release the basic addon pack for the European theatre, including the automatic switching seasonal setup and 5 plane sets, selectable from the "Game Configure" section.

For this even OAW is not needed, though, its usefull as it always was.

How will the plane sets work in campaign play?

If you select for instance the BoB campaign will the appropriate plane set get loaded automatically?

Planeset 0 will be the default set, so the default EAW campaigns will use it.

Storing Planes in their own Folder
Knegel (posted 4-12-2010)

just implemented another feature, using the advantage of the splitted multiplane files.

We can store single planes in their own folder, then we can point the exe to use this folder.
This is in addition to the current folder system.

Excample:
We have one folder in the EAW root, called "Planes". Inside this folder we have 30 subfolders(called "Slot00" to "Slot29". Inside each "Slot" folder we can place as many plane folders as we want. Inside each of this folders we place a skin, FM/DM, hangar screen, sounds**.mpf(to adjust the engine sound) and a view offset file.

Now we can write a little file, called "PDIR.SET", inside this files we define the 30 folders to be used.

The advantage of this system is: We need to store each plane only one time per slot, then we can use it free in every wanted setup. Once a plane is ready, we dont need to touch this folder anymore, we even can make it read only.

At best we pack one skin + hangarscreen + FM/DM etc after the next inside the correct folder and send it to Sandbagger.

Once all skins + FM/DM + hangarscreen etc got repacked as "complete plane", it will be incredible easy to create new campaign setups, or just a new planeset for fun.

Here is a example on what iam working:

In this picture you see the folder structure, where i store the complete planes.
Its very similar to the skin folder system, but here i have 30 "Slot" folders and inside this folders i store the related planes.
I talk about planes, not skins or FM/DM´s, cause each folder include the Skin, the correct FM/DM, hangar screen, mini pic, sound**.mpf(to get the correct engine sound) and the vc_offset**.mpf(to get the correct views).



Here you can see the file where i setup the plane set to be used. Where i implement the path to the wanted 30 planes.


When the ready "PDIR.set file get placed into the EAW root or into one of the plane set folders, the exe will use it and so the included planes. In this way every plane, once ready can stay where it is. We can make it read only and so it will be difficult to mess things up.

a little update.

I splitted the plane in two parts, so we can store Skins + vc_offset**.mpf in one folder and the FM/DM + Hangar screen + sounds**.mpf + minipic + gunsight in another folder.

I found this to be usefull, cause we can use one and the same skin in combination with different FM´s. For example the two SpitIXc multiskin sets can get used with the "SpitIXc Merlin61", the "SpitIXc Merlin66" and "SpitIXc Merlin70" FM/FM.
The Hangar screen + sounds**.mpf + minipic + gunsight in this case stay related to the FM/DM, cause we dont have that many of each type and the sound and gunsight are related to the FM anyway.

Currently i still gather and reslot skins, to fill up the folder system with the needed files to support three complete ETO plane sets(though, some planes will be in more than one plane set).

In the early set, 1940 = 1940, 1943 = 1941, 1944 = early 1942, 1945 = late 1942.

In the late plane set, 1940 = late 1942, 1943 = 1943, 1944 = 1944 and 1945 = 1945.
(for now i didnt implement a year.mpf for this plane set).

For the early plane set i also will include the static frontline and for the late, i also will use a more realistic frontline setup.

btw, you can copy/paste the seasonal folder of ETo_01 into this setup, then you will have the seasons as well.

Hi Tony,

would be good, if you could adjust the StrEdit128C.EXE and add a "*dir.set" section, to edit FMDIR and PDIR set files.

Btw, you could create a "Planeset3" folder and place selfcreated FMDIR and PDIR set files into it.
Then you have a new plane set.

Of course, currently the available number of planes is very limited, but once it did grow to maybe 200, this will be a blast.

btw, the FMDIR and PDIR set files also can be in the EAW root(like always the 1st place where the exe look for this files), so a skins / FM selection tool(at best inside of OAW128) that adjust this files on the fly, similar to the OAW plane selection section and where the user can store the new created files inside a "F" folder(or so), would be very usefull.

With this system, the old way to load skins and FM sets is obsolete!!

Maybe we should call the new exe EAW1.3

(MrJelly) I have just uploaded a new version of the PDir and FMDir.set generator.

When selecting a skin a picture is shown if one is available


If a selected folder is empty a warning is displayed.

I have not posted a link to the utility here because the user needs a "Planes" folder, and 1.28e which is still a WIP and has not been released. When it is I will make the utility available to the community.

[END v1.28e]

v1.28 Series Feature List (posted on 1-05-2011)

Here is a highlighted and incomplete list of partial changes/features in the 1.28 series that have been posted in various forms. If you know when (what specific version of 1.28) that these features where added please contact me. This list does not include the features added in 1.28e, as listed above.

 

• Buildings can be placed above each other, as such one building can get made out of several ground objects, but the each one use only one 3dz as before. You can create bridges where you can fly underneath, flak towers or other buildings with guns on it. (With Jels new target editor you can place AA on top of a flak tower, so the AA shoots from an elevated position, and not the ground. They are also destroyable, individually.) (from version ?.??)
   
• The sprites didn't change much, apart from the "frontline side" feature, where the little humans, if close to the frontline, can wear a axis uniform on the axis side of the frontline and an allied uniform on the allied side, while the people more far away from the frontline can be civilians. (from version ?.??)
   
• Each ground object can use up to 4 different skins: axis and allied- frontline skin (for example a damaged farm, with axis troops on it) and axis and allied normal skins (for example a undamaged German hangar, or a British hangar). With this we can show way more different targets, although the damage model will be the same. (from version ?.??)
   
• Other new graphical additions (bullet tracers, new sun, more skin action codes, new bomb impacts, movable head positions). (from version ?.??)
   
• Full usable and compatible 2mot/4mot plane slots (the number of skin files is now the same for all, so its not a problem anymore to place a 4mot into any wanted slot and the other way around). (from version ?1.28a?)
   
• Working Float planes; Water landing and takeoff for seaplanes (from version 1.28a)
   
• Working static undercarriage (purposely not moveable) (from version ?.??)
   
• Planes (skins, hangar screen, minipic, plane name, FM/DM, nation name etc) can get stored in two folders inside one "Planes" folder. Each plane can get used in as many different plane set as you like, without the need to store the skin twice (actually currently you still would need to store each plane in as many slots as you want to use it in). This new plane sets are nothing more than two 1kb "pointer files" (one for the FM , one for the graphics). (from version ?.??)
   
• Many changes for the campaign setups. Plane slot replated bindings got disabled and if your plane is a bomber, you can start a career with a Bomb mission (not anymore with a fighter sweep). (from version ?.??)
   
• Stukas can perform a real steep dive attack (if they fly high enough). (from version ?.??)
   
• You can adjust the view position, so that you can look around the canopy frames and rear plating, you also can lift the head. (from version ?.??)
   
• Btw, the quality of the Ai´s remain adjustable, rookis are way more easy than Aces. Additionally you can select a little more simple damage model (still not incredible easy). Engine overheat, same like other difficulty settings you still can toggle off. Virtual pilots/People without alot of skill or poor equipment (bad/no stick etc) probably need to use this toggle features to be able to survive. (from version ?.??)
   
• The sound distance was increased, so you hear planes sooner as they approach, and longer after they have passed. (from version 1.28)
   
• Hit bubbles were modified (typically made smaller) in the 1.28 series...Also the damage model is more realistic. .303s and 30 cals were not that good against metal fighters with armor, and terrible against bombers....by exact aiming to the engines and when shooting at convergence range (175-225m) you can bring down up to around 6 enemy bombers...a real good pilot will get always 2-5 kills per mission (with realistic gunnery on). (from version ?.??)
   
• A new, simplified but more exact flight-dynamic calculation, where even the ammunition weight of the bullet shot get subtracted from the plane weight (less bullets = a lighter plane). (from version ?.??)
   
• Full usable and compatible 2mot/4mot plane slots (the number of skin files is now the same for all, so its not a problem anymore to place a 4mot into any wanted slot and the other way around).
   
• The use of external "dat" files such as "TMod.dat". (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• The "CDF.set" and "Dir.set" system which allows the exe to use custom CDFs and find needed files in nominated folders rather than having to move files into the EAW folder. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• The ability to use 24bit bmp files for skins and terrains (D3D only). (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Multiskins- entire squadrons with individual aircraft markings. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Gun convergence. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• The use of convoy files which can determine the make-up of trains and both land and sea convoys. "Convoys.dat" in particular associates sea convoys with up to 255 targets, and contains set waypoints. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• More interdiction mission types which are selectable in single missions and multiplayer. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Massive changes to multiplayer which give the host the ability to choose settings similar to those available in single missions. They also allow a player to join an existing mayhem, or to communicate with players already in a game if it is not a mayhem. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• A much changed multiplayer setup, where the host can set all possible things (also season, plane set etc). (from version ?.??)
   
• Single engine starts for engines 1, 2, 3 and 4, with "wet starts". (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• two super charger stages and floating best altitudes (from version ?.??)
   
• A new way more complex and realistic engine setup, with (depending to the speed and engine setup). By this we now can generate a very realistic behavior of most WWII engines, with its power peaks and holes, depending to the altitude and plane speed. (from version ?.??)
   
• New aircraft selection screens (Allied and Axis), but with the ability to use the old "picpln" screens and menus through an eaw.setting. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• More cockpit gauges. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• A maximum of 256 TMods (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Changes in snapviews - now you can see around the cockpit frames! (from version 1.28a); An improved cockpit view system using files containing data which offsets the pilots head to optimize the views. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Single mission "encounters" so that if you are flying over an enemy base on the way to a target there is the possibility that fighters may scramble from that base. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Several new eaw.ini settings (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Individual "Savedata" folders. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Artillery activity on land close to frontlines. (from version 1.28-1.28C/D)
   
• Gunpods can be loaded/unloaded (from version ?.??)
   
• the v1 slot is fully usable. (from version ?.??)
   
• Planes can rearm, when landed on a active friendly base. A rearm option, where you can rearm your plane, if you park close to an hangar (engine off). This option also allow you to load/unload your plane with all possible weapons for your plane (rockets, gunpods, bombs, torpedoes etc). (from version ?.??)
   
• Tail gunner positions can get eliminated by gunfire. (from version ?.??)
   
• Divebrakes and flaps action codes got added; Divebombers make a real dive attack with dive brakes in a very steep angle. (from version 1.28a)
   
• Planes have more different damages and they can show up (new action codes). A more complex plane damage model, with the related action codes, where ailerons, side rudder, elevator and flaps can get damaged (in steps, they often still work more or less after they got damaged, every new impact damage them more). "small" plane damages have a impact to the Flight behavior (more drag/less lift, worsening maneuverability). (from version ?.??)
   
• Ai´s behave way better. (from version ?.??)
   
• The Ai´s land now good, even on not flat runways and they park tight in two rows. In this way even 36 4-Mots can land and park without to overlap or drive through each other.
   
• Realy good fighting Ai´s. (from version ?.??)
   
• Dive flaps are working(also for Ai´s, with action code). (from version ?.??)
   
• Working Torpedoes got added. (from version 1.28a)
   
• AI torpedo attack routine added. (from version 1.28a)
   
• Way better bomb impacts got created (with longer lasting dust, additionally to the smoke). (from version ?.??)
   
• Planes cause a dust trail when rolling with high throttle setting, or even in a very low level flight. (from version 1.28a)
   
• 16 human players in online mode (from version 1.28), with up to 100 AI depending on connection speed. (from version 1.28a)
   
• Working carriers. 3D carriers you can fly off of - and on to - properly. (from version 1.28a)
   
• There is a Tail hook action code, for carrier planes, which only work if the plane land on a carrier (not on a land base). (from version ?.??)
   
• Ground battle explosions introduced near frontline (from version 1.28a)
   
• Frontline people sprites (from version 1.28a)
   
• A new weapons system, allowing separate firing selections directly from the joystick (from version 1.28a)
   
• Multiple salvos for bombs (from version 1.28a)
   
• Gun smoke trails (from version 1.28a)
   
• Proper tracer fire (from version 1.28a)
   
• Line Abreast takeoff form grass strips (from version 1.28a)
   
• Better AI at high Gs (from version 1.28a)
   
• AI will track moving ground targets (from version 1.28a)
   
• Computed Gunsights (from version 1.28a)
   
• The engines might not stop but continue to burn (fire). When this happens on multi engined planes, the wing will break apart after a while. On single engined planes the pilot will die after a while. The Player can help to stop the fire by reducing the throttle to zero, by a high speed dive or by ditching the plane on the ground. (from version 1.28a)
   
• The light and heavy flak is adjustable. (from version ?.??)
   
• The recticle size of the gunsight is adjustable. (from version ?.??)
   
• In the extreme low level flight you can damage just the propeller. (from version ?.??)
   
• The bail out procedure got increased by one more safe option. Here you push the stick forward, then you hit "bail out". As long as the tail isn't damaged, this is the most safe way to bail out. (from version ?.??)
   
• The wing leveler got adjusted, so that the throttle stays under your control. (from version ?.??)
   
• An auto climb option got added. (from version ?.??)
   
• An Autocombat option got added (only offline). (from version ?.??)
   
• Encounter groups work now (sometimes they even they take off), so you might encounter several different enemy groups on the way to Berlin. (from version ?.??)
   
• There are now several different "Extra squad" settings, one very interesting option is "Extra Squad = 17".
  By this your "Gruppe" turn to be a full "Geschwader"(up to 64 planes per Geschwader) and you always gove a comand to one Gruppe(up to 16 planes x 4). You can have a fureball of up to 256 Planes. With this setting, the encounter groups are disabled. If this work for you depends to your PC. If it work, 1st time you realy will feel like a WWII pilot, cause your main goal will be to survive, if not, you wont last long. (from version ?.??)
   
• the quality of the Ai´s remain adjustable, rookies are way more easy than Aces. Additionally you can select a little more simple damage model (still not incredible easy). Engine overheat, same like other difficulty settings you still can toggle off. People with a not that high skill or equipment (bad/no stick etc) probably need to use this toggle features to be able to survive. (from version ?.??)

[END 1.28 Series Feature List]

v1.28d The Code Group - release (December 27 2009)

EAW 1.28d 1024
Also included are the changes made by Knegel and Mr. Jelly in their MP series, many of which are for online play. (See v1.28c Fixes in the next section below for separate details on the MP series.)

I would like to thank the SEAWC Code Group and the Mod Squad for testing, and Mr Jelly and Knegel for their advice and allowing me to add their code.

Cheers!
Crashin' Jack
December 2009

INSTALLING

Briefly:
-Install EAW from CD v1.0
-Patch to the Official v1.2
-Patch to 1.28c (follow those patching instructions)
-Patch to 1.28d 1024 : EAW1.28D1024.zip (26.6MB) allowing it to overwrite all files.
-Optional Install GreatShotII.zip (133MB)
-Optional Install this patch: EAW1.28D1024GreatShotIIpatch.zip (1.39MB), allow it to over write any files.

Note: If you use OAW, you can install to an "E" file and use OAW to install / uninstall.


This version is an adaptation of the 1.28c exe, which included the fix for the 7217 graphics error. However, it was found that many still suffered from "screen tearing," and most ATI users had a briefing screen and map error that made the selection of bases and targets difficult. This exe fixes most of those problems by changing the resolution of the menu screens to 1024x768 from the default 640x480. Please note that many Nvidia graphics cards newer than the 6000 still suffer from the screen tearing issue. People with this situation can still play by using the "JIMM" file system created by Mr. Jelly. In addition to the graphics update, this exe also includes a number of changes by Knegel and Mr. Jelly.

Compatibility:

• None of the changes in this modification affect game play. It should be noted, however, that any campaign add-on that uses unique menus will need the images changed to the new size. This is a fairly easy task using available tools. Only screens that have moved text and/or hotspots will then be affected, with the exception of the Career screen. This screen should still be usable, but the placement of the three campaigns may not be centered. Modded campaign files will be available in due time.

• The Menu resolution is hard coded in the exe in numerous places and is not affected by the ini setting.

• While most existing add-on mods should be compatible with this patch, some mods e.g. Flight models, will disable some features and produce minor gameplay problems. The normal rules apply about online compatibility.
• v1.28d 1024 exe and the 1.28C multiplayer exe are completely compatible on line, so we can have games with players using either of the two exes
• There's a problem with the 1.28C campaigns vs the 1.28D versions. If you run the 1.28C versions in 1.28D you will get the  "pic wrong resolution" error message. This is sure sign the mainscreen is of the old size, and made for the previous exes. The new exe cant use old screens!! If you use older setups, all the old screens need to get erased! New screens, with a higher resolution need to get created now. Any and all files with the extension of PIC or MPC must be converted from the old 640x480 standard to the new resolution of 1024x768. This is easily done by using the TPC2PCX convertor.

FEATURES/Fixes/Enhancement/Improvements/Changes

Flight/Damage Model:

• none

Loadout:

• none

Particle:

• none

Graphics:

• The 1024 mod: This modification increases the resolution of the pre game menu screens from 640 x 480 to 1024 x 768 and relocated the text, I did nothing to any palette. This has several effects. For computers suffering the 7217 error (which was fixed in 1.28b) but still suffer screen tearing, and also for those that do not display the briefing screens properly, these problems should be fixed. There are still a couple of video cards that exhibit problems, but this should help the vast majority.
• All screens and menus changed to 1024 x 768 resolution. (included screens are pixilated cause they are fast resized from the 800x600 screens.) but since we now have 1024x768 resolution support, such new clean pictures are now possible.
• New Career screen and sprites.
• The hanger screens have had the sprites removed.
• The multiplayer selection screen has a new layout.
• The debriefing screen has a new look, and you first appear before your CO.
• The "fuel gauge" before entering the flying portion of the game now appears if your ini setting is 1024 x 768.
• reduced size muzzle flashes

Views:

• The "computed Gunsight" has been fixed. This code was left out of the 1.28c exe, before the EAW1.28c release some code for this was lost and was left out, and it has now been re-introduced. The default setting for this is 300 which sets the deflection range to 300 meters. You can try variations.
• All instruments show what they are supposed to display, while the HUD info show what the player want.
  So a 109E "speedometer" show always km/h indicated airspeed and a Spit1s "speedometer" show always mph indicated airspeed. The advantage is that the needle position fit to the scale and the we now can have TAS to estimate distances and IAS to estimate my stall speed etc at same time.

Difficulty/Settings:

• none

Sound:

• none

A.I.:

• none

Ground:

• none

Controls:

• To get into Quick Start mission from the main menu, press Ctrl Q (Ctrl and Q on keyboard) at the mainscreen.
• The Mousewheel can be used as a throttle by setting Set Throttle Device=0 in the eaw.ini file. This is very handy for those that use mouselook to look around. Now you don't have to take your hand off the mouse to adjust the throttle.
• There is now a "War Emergency Power," or "WEP" key. This only work for planes that are modeled with WEP!! The WEP toggle key is the "Throttle 100%" key. To set this key, from the main menu go to Configure game --> Control --> Advanced --> Flight and click on the line that says "Throttle 100%." Then click on the key you want to use. When you start a game, WEP is available by default. By pushing "Throttle 100%", you will deactivate it, then the Max Throttle will be reduced to a value where the engine wont overheat in normal flight (if you park on the runway with max throttle, the engine still might overheat). Pushing "Throttle 100%" again will re-enable the maximum possible Throttle.
  This should help you to fly with the best plane performance, without cocking your engine. If you take a look at the rpm, you will see that only a little reduction in throttle is needed to prevent overheating.

• Multiple controllers. You can now add rudder pedals or a separate throttle to your set up. (easier now than it was previously done in EAWv1.2)
  
  From Knegel (posted 11-29-2009)
  The possibility of a 2nd Joystick: The original stock EAW only could handle one stick and we thought that only the 1st game controller is active. But some days ago Uriah pointed me to a problem he was having. He used one Joystick for EAW and an other Joystick for a other flight sim, but always when he had the other USB stick plugged, only this one got used, no matter which stick got plugged in 1st. So I took the 2nd USB stick I have and plugged it into my PC and I got the same result, like Uriah. Now I had a look into the source code of EAW and found that EAW1.28c not always use the 1st controller, rather always the last in the list!!
  Ok, since I now could understand how it works, I was able to implement some five new EAW.ini values, where we can define which stick gets used for rudder, throttle and Stick (X/Y axes). Now I can use the Stick (X/Y) of controller1 and Rudder and Throttle of controller2, or only Rudder of controller2 or all the other way around, just like I want. Maybe my initial explanation isn't very clear: We now can use external rudder pedals, listed as additional controller in Windows. Also the USB keyboard problem some had should be solved with this.

An example Mr. Jelly tested to get two Joysticks to work with functions assigned to the other stick:
(posted 11-29-2009)
I have both my trusty Sidewinder and my not so trusty Logitech J/S connected. Everything but the throttle was controlled by the Sidewinder. The throttle was controlled by the Logitech

[CONTROLS]

Device Port1=1
Device Port2=2
Rudder Device=1
Throttle Device=2
Stick Device=2

An example Mr. Jelly tested to get Saitek rudder pedals working with his Joystick: (posted 11-30-2009)

[CONTROLS]

Device Port1=2
Device Port2=1
Rudder Device=1
Throttle Device=2
Stick Device=2
 

An example Angle Off tested to get his Saitek X52 Throttle working with his Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick:
(posted 12-18-2009)

[CONTROLS]

Device Port1=1
Device Port2=2
Rudder Device=1
Throttle Device=2
Stick Device=1

Note: Only the Stick keys of "Device Port1" get used in EAW. If you want to also use the stick keys of "Device Port2", this controller needs to use stick control software, which will allow you to assign Keyboard keys to this controller. These assigned keys can then be used in EAW. Now you can use the buttons of both sticks in EAW!

However, The 2nd controller's key's work in EAW, if you set it like this:

Device Port1=2
Device Port2=1
Rudder Device=2
Throttle Device=2
Stick Device=2

 

Missions:

• none

Multiplayer:

• Rearming feature for online play. Just land and move close to a hanger and wait a bit to rearm.
  While waiting for the guns to be rearmed, you can select a loadout (if available for your plane-type) by pressing one of the following keys:
  
  F1 = "Bomb(s) loaded"
  F2 = "Rockets loaded"
  F3 = "Gunpods loaded"
  F4 = "Extra fuel loaded" (only offline)
  F5 = "Torpedo(s) loaded" (only offline)
  BackSpace = "Unloaded"
  
  If you choose a loadout that is not available for your plane, then "Unloaded" is displayed.
• Bug fix for bomb dropping. In online play in the default game, it still appeared as though the bomb were still on the hardpoint after dropping.
• The "Kill Shooter" feature. (introduced in v1.26c) This keeps people from sniping at you when you spawn in online play. When you take off you see a "Kill shooter" warning, as long as you fly low with your gear down, anyone shooting at you is killed instead. This gives you a chance to get into the air at a reasonable height before someone can shoot you down.
• Another online feature is that when you drop a bomb, it will no longer appear to stay on the hardpoint. This was a bug in the default game.
• When in Online Multiplayer mode, when a player is using the "Chat" feature, his guns won't shoot.
• You can now join a online game already in progress for "Free For All" mission types. Two sorts of games are possible, Air Started and Ground Start.
   If it is an air started mission, you can join up to the mission setup screen. At this point you can join in the chat for the game and let them know you are there. Each player can select there own plane. This makes it easier for a new player to join a game, instead of waiting for a game to end and someone to show up in the chat room.
   If it is a ground started mayhem, you can actually jump right into the game! This works very well for Team Mayhems, as up to 4 Home Bases can be selected. Up to four different plane types can be selected, but by the Host only. An advantage to this is that when a person joins a game, it is a bit random as to your plane type, and adds variety to the game instead of everyone picking the same aircraft. Now , if you arrive a bit late to the game, you can still join in! In addition, if you need to leave the game to make some adjustment to your stick, resolution, graphic quality, or take out the trash, you can rejoin the game when you are ready and not have to wait for another session.
• New "End Mission," "Quit Game," and "Pause" routines for Multiplayer. In the default game, accidentally pushing "Esc" or "Alt Q" would pause the game for all. This situation is much worse when many people are playing (currently up to 16!). So, the "Pause" feature is not available in Multiplayer. To end a mission, you must press and HOLD the "Esc" key for a period of time (time differs depending on the speed of your computer). To quit the game, press and HOLD "Alt Q" for a period of time (again, time differs depending on the speed of your computer). In both cases, a "Yes/No" question will appear.
• An adjusted "Warp" correction. This should prevent the "Stall" bug, where the planes rolled to one direction, then flicked back to the normal flight position. Cart wheeling planes due to lag and other issues.
• Chat mode can be made "hot" so you don't have to hit the first letter twice
• The Preflight chat now can be activated and stay "hot." By default we had to activate it every time we sent a message, usually by pressing any key. This was annoying, because the you had to press the first key of your message twice - once to activate, then to enter the letter into the chat. Now the chat will stay activated, until you make a "right mouse click." Then it stay deactivated, until you press another key.

INI Entries:

• none

MODDERS INFORMATION

• Each nationality now has it's own arming screen. These are CHALK3D.MPC (US or Default), CHALK4D.MPC (German), and CHALK5D.MPC (British). If chalk4d.mpc and chalk5d.mpc are not present, the game will default to chalk3d.mpc.
• The menu fonts may appear small in many cases, and in some, too small. The game uses font sprites in most cases, not Windows fonts, and changing the sizes of existing fonts is a matter left to future mods. (You can't change the size of it. All of the text used in the menus are sprite based fonts. You can use other fonts for some stuff, like on the chalkboards for instance, but this is hard coded.)
• The WSPRITES.CDF has all the hanger sprites removed, and some custom ones added.
• The PIC.CDF file has all the "extra" graphics removed that are not used in the game. This was done to decrease the download by 9 megabytes.
• Nearly all scenarios and campaigns used default placement for hotspots and text - this remains true now. Changing the size of all the default graphics took me a very short time to do - less than a half hour, I believe. What took a long time was adjusting all the text and hotspots - because I had to find the info and decrypt it, mostly.
  
  So, if you continue to use default locations it should not be a big issue. If you are creating a new screen, most people create in much larger images than 640 x 480. Simply use the 1024 x 768 instead. For campaigns that don't have those images available anymore, they can be increased from the originals - some pixelization occurs, but it is an easy trade off for those that simply can not fly with out it.
  
  And finally, as Knegel says, his series of exe files are the same as mine (rather, I should say that the other way round!) but they use the 640 x480 resolution. So, create your campaign the way you see fit.
  
  I am going to put together a short tutorial on the changes for the 1024 exe based on a conversation with von Oben at the Gen. There are a few new files that were added that you may consider for a new campaign....but extra work to convert to 1024 in an ongoing project should be minimal.

[END v1.28d]

v1.28c Fixes

These fixes where included into v1.28d above as stated by CJ.

EAW1.28C_MP02b  is  EAW1.28D_1024.

EAW1.28c_MP02 (12-15-2009)

1. While waiting for the guns to be rearmed, we will be able to push a button and then we get a related loadout added to our plane and a related message on the screen. Of course only, if our plane type have the loadout available.

This buttons need to get pushed:

F1 = "Bomb(s) loaded"
F2 = "Rockets loaded"
F3 = "Gunpods loaded"
F4 = "Extra fuel loaded" (only offline)
F5 = "Torpedo(s) loaded" (only offline)
BackSpace = "Unloaded"

If a loadout is not available the related button work like "BackSpace" and "Unloaded" get displayed.

2. A "Kill Shooter" got introduced.
a ground started mayhem(multiplayer mission with endless respawn) might result in a vulch-party, where people shoot others down, while they still take off and cant defend themself. Or when people landed damaged or to rearm.

While this might be ok in a coop mayhem, this is just Bullsh... when people take off from the same airbase. To vulch someone realy dont need a human oponent, so this can be done offline.

So same like in Aces High we now will get a "Kill Shooter" for Mayhem games, to prevent vulch-partys.

It work like this:
Right after game start each players plane will display a little "Kill Shooter on" on the bottom of the screen.
As long as this message get displayed, everybody who shoot to you will take the damages, instead of you.

This message will disappear (Kill Shooter off), when you retake the undercarriage, or when you reach around 2000 feet altitude (this should be enough to start a combat).
So if there is someone around, who looks for a easy kill, just don't retake the undercarriage. Climb to around 2000 feet, then retake the undercarriage and use the altitude to gain a good maneuver speed.

If you want to land your plane(out of amo or damaged), you need to disengage in time, cause you dont get proteced by the kill shooter while landing!!

Once you are down and on slow speed(with or without undercarriage), the "Kill Shooter" get enabled again.

The "kill shooter" dont protect you against rockets or bombs!!

If two planes have the "kill shooter" enabled, they cant harm each other.
When the "kill shooter" is enabled and your plane once roll, you cant shoot your guns, so you cant kill someone else.

This will be a part of EAW1.28c_MP02!!

3. Also online the Loadout of all planes now get erased from the hardpoints, when the bombs got dropped(by default this didnt work correct).

*aaa mechanism working to protect the landing plane, as long as no plane is located at a enemy base, the AAA will be present.

4. When the player is in "chat mode", the guns wont shoot anymore.

EAW1.28c_MP.zip (12-05-2009)
EAW1.28c_MP01a (12-07-2009)
A bug which frequently caused a CTD upon leaving a game without showing the de-briefing screen has been addressed and fixed.

Differences to EAW1.28C
Jel

1. War Emergency button:
With this new feature you can slightly lower your engine performance, so that it will not overheat quickly.
You need to assign a keyboard or Joystick button to:
"Configure Game" --> Controls --> Advanced --> Flight --> "Throttle 100%".
When you then push "Throttle 100%", the max throttle get reduced to around 95%,
when you push "Throttle 100%" again, you get max throttle again.
As such "Throttle 100%" is to toggle WEP off/on.

This only works for aircraft which are modelled with WEP!!

2. Re-arming the guns:
When you land near a hangar and park your plane within a 300 Feet/100 m radius of the center of the hangar, with your engine stopped and the wheel brakes on your guns will be re-armed.

3. Join a already running game.
You can join every running game up to the Setup screen. Here you can chat with the people who are flying.
If it is a ground started Mayhem, you also can fly.
-There is no need to wait online wondering when a game will finish with the "1.28c_MP01a" exe currently being used.
If you join you will get to the SESSION PARAMETERS screen, and if the game is a ground started mission you can hit "LAUNCH" and join the game. If it is not a ground started mission you will not be able to join, but what you can do is post messages in chat and they appear on the players' screens, so they can reply. That means you can find out if the game will end soon.

4. A 2nd controller:
(The EAW1.28c_MP line support two devices, though, only the default number of axis, split to the two devices.)
(The Logitech G940 HOTAS get listed as 3 devices with a HUGE number of axes (Roughly 12). The HOTAS probably uses the throttle axes as one device, the rudder as the 2nd and the stick(X/Y) as third device.)
Some people are used to flying in other sims with rudder pedals instead of twisting the joystick handle. Until now the use of a second controller was not possible in EAW. (EAW still only supports the direct stick button inputs from one controller.)
Now external Pedals can be used, or an external throttle control.
A typical eaw.ini setting for the external pedals would be:

Device Port1=1
Device Port2=2
Rudder Device=2
Throttle Device=1
Stick Device=1

5. The exit and quit game routines for On-line play have been changed to prevent a player pausing the game.
In the past this often happened accidentally. It was rather disturbing and could cause lag and warp.
This feature has been disabled at all for on-line missions.
To exit an online game the player needs to hold down the Esc button for about 5 seconds.

6. Pre-flight chat changed:
Previously we had to reactivate the preflight chat after every line we typed, so a normal chat sequence was difficult. Often the 1st character of the message was missing, because the 1st keyboard input reactivated the chat.
Now the chat is permanently active, until the player makes a right mouse click.
The right mouse click enables the player and host to make selections.

As you can see the difference between MP01a and MP01 is a fix of the bug that often caused a CTD when the host or a player left the game, so that person never saw the debriefing screen.
Ralf and I have tested this new exe with a few different game types, and the CTD did not occur for either of us. We hope that it has been fixed

EAW1.28c_JoinMayhem05.zip (12-01-2009)
JoinMayhem5 exe
Knegel

As far as i can see this is the final stage of development in this direction.
Further development will point to restructure the Multiplayerstructure completely, so that joining a already running game get supported in a better way.

NOTE!! This exe also can get used offline. All features that are not only Online related are also available for offline gaming!!

This is what "JoinMayhem5" include:

1. The possibility to join a already running ground started Mayhem game.
This is very nice for team mayhems, cause we can select up to 4 Homebases.
A little drawback is that only the host can determine the up to 4 different plane types to be used. On the other hand this can be a advantage, cause then the people dont always only take the absolute best planes in game.
All this is very good for sessions where any people take part, cause as we know, often someone wont reach the game while the initial game start and if someone want to adjust his stick or a other personnel setup (resolution, graphic quality etc), he now can leave the game and come back.

NOTE: Only the new "ground started mayhem" support the possibility to join a game after it started!! The default game possibilities remain unchanged!

2. New "Mission End" and "Quit Game" routines and dissabled "Pause", for Multiplayer sessions.
For now it was easy possible to Pause a netgame by accident, cause a simple push to "esc" was enough and also "Alt + Q" paused the game for all.
The possibility to Pause a Multiplayer game is ugly all other, specialy if many people take part of the game. So we dissabled the possibility to Pause a game all over.
To End a mission, the player need to push "esc" for around 5 seconds. To Quit the complete game, the player need to push "Alt + Q" for around 2 sec. No Yes/NO Question will appear in both cases!

3. A adjusted Warp correction.
This should prevent the Stall-bug, where the planes always rolled to one direction, then they flicked back to the normal flight position.

4. The possibility to use a 2nd controller and to define which controller shal get used, if more are present.
For this we get this 5 new EAW.ini entrys:
Device Port1=1
Device Port2=2
Rudder Device=1
Throttle Device=1
Stick Device=1
The 1st two define whih devices get used. There might be 3 or more. Note: Only the Stickkeys of "Device Port1" get used in EAW. If you want to use also the stick keys of "Device Port2", this controller need a sticksoftware, which make you able to assign Keyboaed keys to this controller. This assigned key´s then can get used in EAW.
Example:
I have a very cheap stick, without software, i adjusted the EAW.ini to use it as "Device Port1", so the buttons work. Additionally i have a Logitec WingmanExtreme3dPro. With help of the Wingmand Profiler software iam able to assingn keyboard buttons to the Stick buttons. Now i can(could) use the buttons of both sticks in EAW.

5. The Mousewheel can get used as throttle(Set Throttle Device=0).


6. The Preflight chat now can get activated permanent.
By default we had to activate it again, after every message we send, by pushing any key. This was pretty much disturbing, cause often the 1st character then was missing, cause the 1st key command did activate the chat.
Now the chat stay activated, until we make a "right mouse click", then it stay deactivated, until we press another key.

7. We got the possibility to use a WEP button.
This only work for planes that are modeled with WEP!!
The WEP toggle key is the "Throttle 100%" key (configure game --> controls --> advanced --> flight). If you start a game, WEP is available, by pushing "Throttle 100%", you will deactivate it, then the Max Throttle get reduced to a value where the engine wont overheat in a normal flight(if you park on the runway with max throttle, the engine still might overheat). Pushing "Throttle 100%" again re-enable the maximum possible Throttle.
This should help you to fly with the best plane performance, without to cock your engine.
If you take a look to the rpm, you will see that only a little reduced throttle is needed to prevent overheat.

 

[END 1.28c Fixes]

v1.28c The Code Group - release (October 29 2009 - November 07 2009 - December 20 2009)
Update: This installation ("128CInstall.exe") now has the updated files from the 1.28C+ patch included. (128CPlus.exe 0.99M)
Update: Patch v1.28c_MP02 (12-15-2009) features included in this list.

Greetings, Knegel
The EAW Code Development Team

Produced by the Code Committee of the Society of European Air War Contributors (SEAWC), SEAWC information at Sandbagger’s Tally-Ho website on SimHQ Forums.

This one-step installer will upgrade European Air War v1.2 to Version 1.28c.

Briefly:
-Install EAW from CD v1.0
-Patch to the Official v1.2 and run the game once.
-Patch to 1.28c : EAW1.28Cexe.zip (53.4M) Point the installer, "128CInstall.exe" to your 1.2 directory or copy the installer to your new 1.2 directory. It will automatically adjust files and create needed directories. A new eaw.ini will be created by the install, and your old settings will be lost. (it does not install a number of the standard EAW "CDF" files which where never modified.)
-Optionally install the support files: EAW1.28CexeSupportFiles.zip (4.29M)
JIM128CInstall.exe , OAW128V13UG.exe, V1.28c Details.doc

Compatibility:

• This patch makes 1.28, 1.28a and 1.28b redundant.
   

• This version is the last exe that uses 640x480 selection screens and menus.
   

• If you want to play old EAW scenario/campaign games. Keep old EAW versions and do not install over them. Some are not backward compatible with the 1.28 series. When loading and playing older scenarios/campaigns, use an exe version BEFORE the 1.28 series, such as EAW 1.2 exe or 1.26e, the last of the "old" exe series.
   

• The new campaigns are being written in 1.28C format, which uses a different headers for some genuine 1.28 series "dat" files (tmod.dat and convoys.dat) to make them consistent with existing EAW "dat" files. There were some other 1.28 series "dat" files such as "CapSet.dat" which were not EAW "dat" files at all, but have the same structure as "mpf" files. In this case these have been re-named as "mpf" files.

FEATURES/Fixes/Enhancement/Improvements/Changes

Flight/Damage Model:

• A 2nd supercharger stage:
  added for piston engines with high altitude capabilities.
  A new way more complex and realistic engine setup, with two super charger stages and floating best altitudes (depending to the speed and engine setup). This gives us the possibility to model most WWII engine setups rather exact, generating a very realistic behavior of most WWII engines, with its power peaks and holes, depending to the altitude and plane speed.
  (support two super charger stages per plane and floating best power heights.) Till now the engine power curve only did support one engine power peek setting, while most WWII planes had two, as result the Plane performance in different altitudes only could be modeled correct for planes with a single stage super charger. Even then the best power height of most real planes is floating and depends much to the current plane speed, cause often the "RAM air effect" get used to increase the loading pressure. As such most planes had a often by far lower max power height with climb speed than with max speed. For planes like the P51 this did vary by around 4000feet. All this now can get (already done for the default plane set) adjusted very exact. Btw, you can adjust just the engine power upward, to gain a better performance. Note that the later FMs have two power values, if the plane had a two stage supercharger. The additional new or original unused values in the *flt files...many of the values never where used in EAW1.1 and 1.2. These values allowed Knegel to implement new features, like a 2nd supercharger stage and different engine overheat characteristics. As such the old value descriptions don't fit anymore...)
  
  
• Normally to Bail out you need to be rather slow and the plane need to fly strait. If you bank to much or climb/dive to much, or if you are to fast, you will hear a nasty "plonk", what means that your pilot hit the plane. The bail out procedure got increased by one more safe option, we implemented another possibility to bail out, even at higher speed. Here you push the stick forward, then you hit "bail out". Then your pilot will get sucked out of the dead plane, without hitting anything, as long as the tail isn't damaged, this is the most safe way to bail out.
  
  
• If you fly the default Spit 1a or a Hurricane with "cockpit off" your engine might stop and you cannot tell until it is too late. This occurs because the new flight models mirror the problems that those aircraft had with the gravity fed carburetor. Also if you just nose over for a dive the carb starves and the engine stops! (In stock v1.2 the engine slows only) Make sure you roll over before doing a dive! Ctrl-1 will restart the engine, but shut back to 50% throttle or Wuddy's wet-start feature may result in your getting a blown engine. (see controls for more info).
  
  
• More action codes:
  A number of new ones have been added. Most are codes for additional damage types. (see modding)
  
  
• Dive flaps"
  are working (also for Ai´s, with action code).

• Burn Damage;
  Multi-engined planes may lose a wing when a damaged engine burns too long.

• A more complex plane damage model/related influences
  with the related action codes, where ailerons, side rudder, elevator and flaps can get damaged (in steps, they often still work more or less after they got damaged, every new impact damage them more). The wing will lose max lift and produce more drag, so will do damages on the fuselage.
  
  
• Gunner positions can get deactivated by damages;
  If you attack a bomber, by damaging the plane on different positions, you can disable the different gunner positions, step by step. So if a Pulk get attacked by your squad, normally the 2nd run is a little more harmless, cause most probably some gunners already got disabled.
  
  
• Engine start smoke;
  -Depends on the current throttle setting, the color change, up to a wet start.
  - With extreme/wrong throttle settings, the engines won’t start.
  - If the engines are still cold and you raise the throttle too fast, the engine will take a little damage, If you repeat this too often, heavier damage is taken and the engine will start to smoke.
  - Engines can overcool if you cut power in a highspeed dive. (The engines can overcool in a unpowered highspeed dive, so its needed to be carefully with the throttle afterward.) This can get disabled with the engine overheat on/off option.
  
  
• The Stall and Spin behavior got changed:
  In the default game planes almost only could spin/stall to one and the same direction, now it depends to the flight position and engine torque. So in a right turn its more likely to stall/spin right, in a left turn left.

(In the default game planes never did recover by itself and the stall edge was extremely small and in all planes rather similar. Now we can adjust the "stall edge width" and also a "stall recover base speed" for each plane.
The "stall edge width" do what it say, a plane with a very small "stall edge width" tend to go suddenly into a spin and the other way around. The "stall recover base speed" define roughly a speed where a plane can and will recover a spin by itself. Note: The real "stall recover speed" get influenced by more factors, like flight position, torque, damage stage etc. So if you fly fast enough and stall the plane, they normally will recover just by leaving the controls alone.)

• The Performance of the planes fit to the historical data sheets we have. Since we don't have that many data's for the Bombers, they are more estimated, than the fighters. The FMs was adjusted by Knegel and Brian Purcel from NZ.
  
  Unfortunately I miss the time to give exact figures of the EAW planes for each altitude etc, but here is a very good Aces High fighter comparison, which have rather realistic figures, very similar to ours.
  
  http://www.gonzoville.com/ahcharts/
  
  Here some notes to some EAW planes:
  
  P38H:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  Effective combat flaps.
  
  P38J:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  Boosted alerons(good for highspeed).
  Effective combat flaps.
  
  P47´s and P51´s:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  
  Hurri1a:
  No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.
  
  Spit1a:
  No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.
  Simple one step flaps(only good for landing).
  
  SpitIXc:
  One min WEP for climb, 5 Min WEP at all out level speed.
  Simple one step flaps(only good for landing).
  
  Spit14e:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  Simple one step flaps(only good for landing).
  
  Typhoon/Temp:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  
  Mosquito:
  One min WEP for climb, 5 Min WEP at all out level speed.
  
  Bf109E-4:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  
  Bf109G-6:
  No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.
  Gunpods can get selected.
  
  Bf109K-4:
  10min WEP, also at slow speed.
  
  Bf110C-4:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  
  Bf110G-2
  No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.
  2 x MK108 + 2 x MG151/20
  
  Me410A-1/U2:
  One min WEP for climb, 5 Min WEP at all out level speed.
  4 x MG151/20, 2 x MG17
  
  FW190A-4:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  4 x MG151/20, 2 x MG17
  
  FW190D-9:
  5 min WEP, also in climb.
  2 x MG151/20, 2 x MG131

Loadout:

• none

Particle:

Graphics:

• 1.28c upgrade, Nvidia Automatic fix for Error 7217 in most cases. A “Big Fix” is coming soon for the remaining graphics cards that produce “Error 7217” when trying to play the game. (The 1024x768 code at this point only affects the pre-game menu system - and the 7217 error. This code has nothing to do with the in-game screen resolution as set in the ini)
• Briefing Screen or Game Map bad. Bad display when playing a Career is common in the 1.2x series to date. This upgrade should fix most bad screens.
• "Tearing" may happen on the Briefing Room screen when playing Career, the Map screen or Mainscreen. Tearing means 1/2 the screen or more is not shown properly. An old graphics card problem that is nearly solved, (but not totally) in 1.28c.
  
  
• The render distances got optimized; the adjustment actually is not made to increase the max visibility range, but the close and middle graphic distances got optimized (increased range)...so now the close distance graphic only switch off when the object is so small that there is no quality different between the close distance and simplified medium distance view. In the stock EAWv1.2 game, the close distance graphic got replaced too early by the middle distance view. This is when you really could see a hard switch from an nicely painted plane to a rough painted plane...
  
  (Interesting is that a to long adjusted distance for the close distance graphic looks less good than the medium distance graphic on the same distance. This is so cause at one stage the graphic card still want to paint the lot of possible pixels of the close distance graphic, but since the the number of pixels are limited, the graphic card have problems to decide what color it shall take for a pixel. As result the plane will shimmer in a strange way (the terrain in long distance also likes to do this)).
  
  
• Also online the Loadout of all planes now get visually removed from the hardpoints, when the bombs get dropped (by default this didnt work correctly).
  

Views:

• Gunsight computer; The computed gunsight now relates to the distance, not the enemy’s G-force.

Difficulty/Settings:

• none

Sound:

• Separate engine sounds for each plane slot. (See Modders Information below)

A.I.:

• Tail gunners and AAA (ground fire); will not stop shooting when a plane engine just smokes.
• AI´s will avoid hills rather well now (if the hill is to high, they evade it, by turning away). They can’t be led to crash into a mountainside so easily anymore.

Ground:

• Working carriers; Aircraft Carriers; Flying, landing, and fighting at sea is much more realistic/extensive now. Options for sea attacks and operations on or from carriers are available in the Mission Screens in hangars. Practice is recommended for carrier landings—don’t get too low on final approach.
• Torpedo runs and dive bombing of warship convoys possible.
• South Pacific Air War (SPAW) is a new scenario designed for 1.28c.

Controls:

• New Keys for Engine Start:
  Engine start; Ctrl-1 starts engine One, Ctrl-2 starts engine Two, Ctrl-3 starts engine Three, Ctrl-4 starts engine Four

• New Throttle Controls:
  Engine starts now require 50% throttle management for more realistic flying. No gas, no start.
  If its far below 50% the engine will show white smoke and quit again.
  Too much throttle (to much over 50%) and an explosive “wet start” of flame appears.
  Engine may be damaged by repeated wet starts or jamming the throttle forward too fast on a cold engine.
  (If the engine run and still is cold, you need to push the throttle smoothly forward, otherwise the engine will take damages. The engine can overcool now in a long dive with reduced power. If this happen, you need to be careful with the throttle afterward!!
  The Jets need a smooth throttle hand between 0 and 60% throttle, no matter how hot the engine is. If you move the throttle too fast, the turbine will caught fire.)
  "fuel pressure low" warning; if your engine stalls on start-up you will get this message. It just means you have failed to get the engine running. You need to set the throttle to around 40%-50%, then start the engine or hit auto pilot. With to much or to few throttle, the engine will die again. If you use Autopilot, once the engine did die, you need to disable autopilot and start manually. (if you have set your throttle control to your mouse wheel then there is no 'start' or 'finish' value on the roller so just use the number 5 on your keyboard before engine start-up to set the engine initially to 50% speed. That effectively 'calibrates' your roller wheel on the mouse.) Also if you press "Alt-N" with an un-started engine, you will get that message as well.

• When starting your engine in 1.28c
  you must be conscious of the throttle setting. No throttle and it won't start. Too much, and you'll get a "wet start"," complete with flames and dark smoke. Try a setting about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle. Then once it starts, ease the throttle forward if your engine is cold or you could damage it. Like wise in a dive that goes too fast, watch your engine temp gauge - if it cools too much and you slam the throttle forward, you could damage the engine as well.

• Auto climb When playing offline
  the procedure to enable "AutoClimb" has been changed:
  First enable "Wingleveler" (Usually Shift -A)
  Then push "Autopilot" (usually A).

• The wing leveler got adjusted:,
  so that the throttle stay under your control; Throttle is adjustable now when fly in Wing Leveler and AutoClimb mode.
  
  
• Built-in graphics speed checker:
  Use CTRL-G. An information screen appears upper right with Frames-Per-Second displayed, along with other aircraft info. The framerate, mass in kG/lbs, and indicated airspeed in mph/kmph are self explanatory.
  The mass values were really useful to us when we had a fuel burn rate 10x larger than it should have been for the Typhoon and P47C in the 1.28b release (as we could not see the last "0" in the planes.dat editor LOL), and we could see the mass dropping very quickly. btw, look to the weight while you push the gun trigger. The EAW1.28c flightmodel also take the ammunition weight into account. So a FW190A without ammo is around 250kg less heavy and it will perform like that. The P47 is around 450kg less heavy without ammo, while the 109G6(clean) just carry around 90kg ammo and the Spit1a just around 75kg. So depending to the current fuel and ammo load the performance relation between different planes might vary much.
  
  The best ALT values are related to the two possible supercharger stages; Each figure gives you the best performance altitude for one of the supercharger stages. Try to stay near one of those altitudes for best performance:
  
  best Alt 1: current best Height (rated height, highest power) of the 1st supercharger stage in feet
  best Alt 2: current best Height (rated hight, highest power) of the 2nd supercharger stage in feet
  best Alt diff: altitude difference to the current supercharger switch height in feet
  (when this value is = 0, you be in the current supercharger switch height, often the worst power)
  
  Like in reality this heights are in big degrees related to the current plane speed(ram air effect).
  As such you will take notice that the height vary with the speed.
  
  In older FM´s, also still in SPAW, no 2nd supercharger stage got implemented for now, so the 1st supercharger height is = 0 and also the switch height is close to zero.
  
  So in EAW1.28c the rated altitude change with the plane speed, what is another very realistic aspect of aircombat with piston engines.
  
  Important to know is that the engines wont overheat if the plane is a little above the current rated altitude. This is so cause above rated altitude the engines cant get loaded with the full pressure anymore, as such the engine run more cool.
  
  So if a plane have two supercharger stages, there is a altitude band, above the 1st rated alt and below the supercharger switch height, where the engine wont overheat and then again above the 2nd rated alt.
  
  the values are mainly meant to make it more easy for addon makers (FM/DM´s), but for a experienced pilot they are also very informative (speed IAS and TAS at same time is nice as well).
  
  The "best alt diff" is the distance to the current supercharger switch altitude.
  In EAW1.28c/d the supercharger altitudes are not static anymore!
  We not only got one more supercharger stage, all the values float, depending to the current plane speed.
  
  Most WWII planes did use the so called RAM air effect, where the plane speed got used to get a higher loading presure for the engine. Since the loading pressure is one main factor to define the rated altitude of a plane, the rated altitude is related to the speed. As result the rated altitude did vary particular extreme much better climb speed and Vmax(5000feet is not seldom).
  
  All this is now modeled in the default EAW1.28c plane set. I still don't found the time to update other FM sets

Missions:

• Flying by the Years and Seasons:
  EAW 1.28c sets dates and makes seasonal changes of terrains; 5 automatically switching seasons (spring, summer, fall, light winter, winter). (EAW will soon offer a World War I flying scenario for the 1914 to 1918 years, is expected soon.) Other scenarios may now have dates before and after EAW’s ‘stock’ World War II years.
  
  
• 1.28c allows proper dating and seasonal changes of terrains.
  
  
• A set of seasonal European terrains is automatically included in this update.
  
  
• max 60 plane types usable, online and offline.
  
  
• Player can select up to 64 planes per flight in Single Mission mode, depending on available aircraft.
  In Career mode, only the commander can select and lead up to 64 aircraft.
  
  
• Front Lines:
  will be displayed on the single mission map by a red line.
  
  
• Single Mission updates;
  After a single mission, the date will count upward by 1 to 9 days. Monthly and yearly changes are also automatic. (See Seasonal Changes in the INI Entries below)
  
  
• Bomber Missions;
  The campaign routines have been adjusted to make "bomber campaigns" better, with more dependable escorts.
  
  
• War ships, and sea Convoy Interdiction Targets;
  added to the stock transport convoys. A new type of convoy has been added for interdiction missions. Convoys composed mainly of warships can be selected for attack.
  
  -If you choose one of the two "ship convoys" as target for an interdict mission, only targets that have a "ship convoy" are displayed on the preflight map.
  
  
• The campaign routines got adjusted to make "bomber campaigns" better playable (we will have escort now and we start the campaign not anymore always with a sweep mission).

Multiplayer:

• New hosting options and individual aircraft allowed for up to 16 players.
  
  
• A ‘quick flight’ routine speeds gameplay.
  
  
• EAW online has an improved system for flight response around the world, with few delays.

• More Aircraft in Your Flight. Individual aircraft “skins” (paint and markings) can be fly together in the 1.28 series. Up to 64 aircraft from your squadron can be part of a flight. Several large squadrons are included as examples. These “multi-skins” depend on aircraft modders to supply them, and could be more or less than 64 in-game. Click on number of aircraft in the hangar Mission Screens to see what’s available in-game.
  

• Seasonal Setup:
  If the seasonal setup is activated, it automatically becomes a "host setting" in multiplayer mode, so everybody in game will get the same setting.
  

• Flying Online:
  New hosting options and additional aircraft for up to 16 players. A ‘quick flight’ routine speeds gameplay. (If the player have the correct setup loaded, all players will see the same season and plane set, fitting to the hosts settings. To achieve this we implemented that the current date and plane set number of the host get transmitted to the clients. Then EAW load the related season and plane set, if available. As result we will have more graphical variation and once we got the plane sets ready, we can choose out of up to 120 planes, without the need to load something new.)

• Rearm:
  (works online aswell as offline) one thing i always loved in Aces High was the possibility to land on a Airbase and to get the guns rearmed. A rearm option now is possible in EAW where you can rearm your plane. It work like this.
  We land on one of our bases, taxi to a hanger (within 100ft or so) then we stop the engine and enable the brakes. Now a "Wait until the Guns got rearmed" message appear for a few sec´s. After around 30 seconds a "Guns got rearmed" message appear for another few seconds and the Guns really got rearmed. I know that 30 seconds are not very long for rearming the guns, but from Aces High i know that 30 seconds feel like one hour, when you sit there like a duck and the enemies get closer to attack you or get the time to escape.
  
  While waiting for the guns to be rearmed, we will be able to push a button and then we get a related loadout added to our plane and a related message on the screen. Of course only, if our plane type have the loadout available. This option also allow you to load/unload your plane with all possible weapons for your plane (rockets, gunpods, bombs, torpedoes etc).
  
  This buttons need to get pushed:
  
  F1 = "Bomb(s) loaded"
  F2 = "Rockets loaded"
  F3 = "Gunpods loaded"
  F4 = "Extra fuel loaded" (only offline)
  F5 = "Torpedo(s) loaded" (only offline)
  BackSpace = "Unloaded"
  
  If a loadout is not available the related button work like "BackSpace" and "Unloaded" get displayed.
   

• A "Kill Shooter" got introduced:
  A ground started mayhem (multiplayer mission with endless respawn) might result in a vulch-party, where people shoot others down while they still take off and cant defend themselves. Or when people landed damaged or to rearm.
  
  While this might be ok in a coop mayhem, this is just Bullsh... when people take off from the same airbase. To vulch someone realy dont need a human opponent, so this can be done offline.
  
  So same like in Aces High we now will get a "Kill Shooter" for Mayhem(FFA) games, to prevent vulch-partys.
  
  It work like this:
  Right after game start each players plane will display a little "Kill Shooter on" on the bottom of the screen.
  As long as this message get displayed, everybody who shoot to you will take the damages, instead of you.
  
  This message will disappear (Kill Shooter off), when you retake the undercarriage, or when you reach around 2000 feet altitude (this should be enough to start a combat).
  So if there is someone around, who looks for a easy kill, just don't retake the undercarriage. Climb to around 2000 feet, then retake the undercarriage and use the altitude to gain a good maneuver speed.
  
  If you want to land your plane (out of ammo or damaged), you need to disengage in time, cause you don't get protected by the kill shooter while landing!!
  
  Once you are down and on slow speed (with or without undercarriage), the "Kill Shooter" get enabled again.
  
  The "kill shooter" don't protect you against rockets or bombs!!
  
  If two planes have the "kill shooter" enabled, they cant harm each other.
  When the "kill shooter" is enabled and your plane once roll, you cant shoot your guns, so you cant kill someone else.

• Also online the Loadout of all planes now get erased from the hardpoints, when the bombs get dropped (by default this didn't work correctly).

• When the player is in "chat mode", the guns wont shoot anymore.

INI Entries:

• Autocombat;
  Default is ON. Change to “0” ( zero) to turn OFF. This allows you to fly on Autopilot and target enemy aircraft or other objects. When the player selects “Autopilot” in the game a value "= 1" makes the player’s own plane attack the enemy automatically. The AI (Artificial Intelligence) will fly your aircraft and pursue and shoot. Useful for both new and experienced pilots to watch an “expert” fight and observe and learn dogfight tactics. This will happen when the player has selected an enemy plane as the target.

• Autopilot and AutoClimb are already part of the 1.28 series. Throttle may now be used during these functions.
  

• Viewing the propeller:
  When the cockpit is "on" the propeller view can be enabled or disabled again, "CockpitProp =" (is an old feature that got enabled again after a request from a player. we re-enable the possibility to disable the propeller, but we disable the possibility to disable the "needles" etc of the gauges).

• Extra Squads:
  There are now several different "Extra squad" settings. Default is OFF (zero). Any number up to 17 extra squads may be entered. The highest setting will produce a sky filled with aircraft, always an EAW specialty, with massive dogfights called “furballs”. Up to 256 aircraft seen at once.
  
  FPS Play Speed (Frames-Per-Second) will be affected, however, when large numbers of aircraft are in view. Shift your view or use a lower number of extra squads to speed up the FPS. To check FPS, use CTRL-G.
  
  Possible settings are:

"0 & > 17" No extra squad.
"1-3" normal extra squad.
"4" all Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"5" all US Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"6" only 1940/43 US Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"7" only 1944/45 US Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"8" all US+Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"9" only 1940/43 US+Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"10" only 1944/45 US+Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"11" all Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"12" only 1940/43 Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"13" only 1944/45 Brit Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"14" all Ger Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"15" only 1940/43 Ger Bombers get two escorting fighter squads
"16" only 1944/45 GerBombers get two escorting fighter squads
"17" Fighter squads can have up to 64 planes, always two Bomber squads will appear, instead of one.

If you adjust this to "17", you will get large formation, of up to 64 planes per fighter squad (bombers groups can get some more). So with this setup, you not only command a "squadron or Staffel", but a whole Group; you always give a command to one Group (up to 16 planes x 4). With this setting, the Random Encounter Groups are disabled as there are enough flying planes already. You can have a furball of up to 256 Planes.  If this will work for you, it depends on your PC. If it works, 1st time you really will feel like a WWII pilot, cause your main goal will be to survive, if not, you wont last long.
Give it a try, in single mission you can select the number of planes for your squad. Combat with that many planes might hurt your FPS sometimes (close to a extreme large bomber formation attacked by 100+ enemies, escorted by 64 fighters), but its worth it. While a sweep i never got bad fps drops, although 4 fighter groups and large battle size are already 256 planes.

• Flying by the Years and Seasons:
  Seasonal changes. Default is ON ( “1”). Change to “0” to turn off. A set of seasonal European terrains is included in this update as an example of what can be done!! You may put other terrains in the main EAW directory.
  With ETO_01 loaded the terrain switch automatically fitting to the season and even in single missions the date move forward with each mission you fly, so from time to time the season will change.
  So you might start a BoB campaign in Summer, then it will switch to fall and later to light winter and then hard winter. Imho this is one of the best visible and as such most immersive and important features we did add.
  Btw, the season also switch from mission to mission, you dont need to leave the game!!
  Even in a multiplayer game the host´s mission date now get transmitted to all others, so if all have ETO_01 loaded, all will see the same season.
  
  Automatic Seasonal Changes will switch up to 5 different terrains depending to the mission date:
  --Winter
  --Late Winter (or early Spring)
  --Spring
  --Summer
  --Fall
  
  
• Month:
  (implemented the possibility to play with seasonal setups)
  If the value is between 1 and 12 (January to December), EAW 1.28C will provide a steadily increasing mission date in single, multiplayer and quick-mission mode, with every played mission. This does not influence the career date!
  The Month setting triggers the season in EAW if a seasonal setup is present in the currently used "Scenario folder". In this way the currently used month can determine the terrain and/or weather setups to be used.

"= 21" triggers static "Spring"(also in career mode), while the single mission date is randomized (as in the default game).
"= 22" triggers static "Summer".
"= 23" triggers static "Fall (Autumn)".
"= 24" triggers static "Winter".
"= 25" triggers static "Light Winter"

All other values ( 0, > 12 & < 21 , > 25) disable the seasonal setup and the new mission data system.

If the seasonal setup is activated, it automatically becomes a "host setting" in multiplayer mode, so everybody in game will get the same setting.

• Day:
  Here you can select the wanted game date day (1 to 31).
  If the value is bigger than then maximum possible number for the current month, the game will switch to the next month.
  If the "Date system" is disabled, also the day value is randomized.
  It does not apply to career mode.
   
• Engine Overheat.
  Default is ON. Can be disabled with the Eaw.ini engine overheat on/off option.
  
  
• FadeTimer;
  We can adjust the screen fade times to our preference. This influences the fade time, when you leave one pre-game screen and enter another. The used value depends to the user’s preference, a maximum value is not known.
  
  
• StaticCockpit:
  2d cockpits (F-1) can be disabled in all screen resolutions by an EAW.ini setting. This disables the 2D cockpits at all. It is useful, if someone plays in 640x480 and does not want to see the 2d cockpits (in add on campaigns they normally would not fit). With the coming 7217 fix the 2D cockpits will be present in 1024x768 resolution, then this will be more important.
  
  
• PlaneSet Number:
  (up to 4 different plane sets possible now, however no new no sets release with this version)
  Possible values: 0-4
  This only influences the game if there are additional plane set folders in the currently used "Scenario folder".
  Number "0" is default and as long no other plane set is loaded, the plane set from the CDFs is used.
  "=1" can get selected from inside the game (configure game > graphics).
  =2, =3 or =4 can be enabled by editing the EAW.ini (OAW1.28 V13 include a feature to do it easily).
  
  
• ComputedGunsight:
  "= 0" disables the computed Gunsight. Otherwise the value is the distance at which the gun sight works best in "meters".
  
  
• FriendlyEncounter:
  "= 0" disables all friendly encounter groups. Try values up to 255. The higher the value the higher the probability to meet an encounter group.
  
  
• EnemyEncounter:
  "= 0" disables all enemy encounter groups. Again try values up to 255, as higher the value the higher the probability to meet an encounter group.
  
  
• GunSightSize:
  This changes/adjusts the reticle diameter. (The recticle size of the gunsight) The default is "=1024" and possible values are from 800 to 2100.
  
  
• OldStyle:
  This enables the EAW1.2 plane selection screens. The default is "=0" (off). "=1" enables the old style screens; This eaw.ini entry does one task irrespective of whether it is the 640x480 or the 1024x768 version. If it set to "0" it uses the two aircraft selections screens (Allied and Axis) listing a flyable aircraft for selection.
  If it is set to "1" it uses the old "picplna/b/g.mnu" files and corresponding screens which do not have the bombers available for selection. It does not affect screen size.
  
  
• HudFontSize:
  This changes the size of the ingame HUD display fonts. The default is "=0" (off) but “=1” enables the larger fonts and additionally the distance between the lines get increased, to make it easier to read.
  
  
• KeyboardLanguage:
  This changes the keyboard to different national settings. Default is "=0" (English/US)
  "=1" (German)
  "=2" (French)
  "=3" (Spanish/Italian)
  
  
• FlakAccuracy and FlakRof (rate of fire):
  Both values affect only the heavy flak.
  The default is "=2" Appropriate values range from 1 to 5.
  The effectiveness of the flak depends to both values. Experiment with them.

• GroundBattle:
  This affects the artillery groundbattle near the frontlines. The default is "=3"
  "=0" disables the ground battle action. The higher the value the more impacts happen.
  Depending to the PC´s performance at some stage the FPS might suffer.

• OldDamage:
  The default is "=0" "=1" This feature enables a old style damage model routine, so that old FM/DM´s give better results; enables a hardcoded gunpower and engine management (simlier to v1.2), which suits many of the older flight models better. Works offline only.

• RealisticGunnery:
  The default is "=1" which is ON for Realistic. "=0" is OFF for un-realistic, makes the gunpower a little more destructive.

MODDERS INFORMATION

• The new “dir.set”, “cdf.set”, and folder system:
  Introduceing an absolute new folder/files/cdf storage/read structure.
  Note: If the game gets used like stock v1.2, Nothing changed. Otherwise we can place a complete campaign into its own subfolder, with its own "savedata" folder, with its own CDF´s, with its own seasonal folders, with its own "second plane set". To load this setup we just need to loade one lonely file. Additional addon files still can get loaded right into the EAW root. If a setup dont need many new files(like some ETO campaigns), the exe will take the missing files from the default CDF´s. With this system campaigns can get offered in a "hidden read only" folders, but they stay flexible.
  
  
• Specialty names for EAW exes:
  You may copy the eaw.exe and rename the file to your preference or use one with a different name, such as EAW 1_28c.exe., Eaw-SPAW.exe, IRAQ.exe, My-Favorite-EAW.exe, etc.
  Note: Works in most Windows operating systems, but is truly un-advisable. For online flying it must be named "eaw.exe".
  
  
• CDF's:
  Some updated CDF files have been included.
  
  
• Music:
  If a "Music" folder has been provided by the Scenario maker then it will be used if it is in the Scenario folder. For example if the music folder which comes with SPAW is placed in the \SPAW folder it will be used when playing SPAW.
  
  
• >Maximum of 60 different plane types; Usable, online and offline in one set. A second alternate planeset of 60 more aircraft may be added by modders and can be accessed in-game.
  
  
• Parachutes forbidden WWI;
  Before 1918 dates, ‘chutes will not be available to pilots and crew. Was considered cowardly to use them. (Future EAW mod will soon offer a World War I flying scenario for the 1914 to 1918 years.)
  

• More action codes; A number of new ones have been added. (most are codes for additional damage types).

• Aircraft Formations;
  Every nation can have its own formation type. These are inside a “formations.dat” file in the main EAW directory.
  
  
• A full usable V1 slot;
  can now be used as an extra plane slot of another type. (as fighter or bomber)
  
  
• Extra Aircraft in Your Flight:
  Individual aircraft “skins” (paint and markings) can be shown and fly together in the 1.28 series.
  In 1.28c up to 64 aircraft from your squadron can be part of a flight.
  This “multi-skins” number depends on aircraft modders to supply them.
  It could be more or less than 64 in the game.
  
  
• a separate "Screenshots" folder so that your EAW directory is less cluttered
  
  
• The new cockpits were set up to use a total of 75 instruments instead of the original 20. Now all fighters can use the same number and type of instruments in the virtual 3D cockpit (which was limited to 20) as the 2D cockpits do (which has no limit). Now, if you can find space on the X.tpc file (which in the future should be larger) you can set up a correct bomber cockpit including an engineer's panel in the cockpit rear, or on the floor when using a bomb view window.
  
  
• Aircraft Switching;
  We put it in the code and it is in 1.28c and d! Make a one line text file in your EAW folder put the plane slot number you want. Save the file as "ACP.mpf" then fly your career! I just made one with 11 which is the Spit IX, and flew a Spit 9 in a 1940 RAF career!
  
  
• With EAW1.28c we are able to select between up to 5 different plane sets, if the modder did provide them, by help of a related EAW.ini setting, but we only could switch between two of them from within the game.
   

How the EAW Multi Skin system works:
This works in 8 and 24bit BMP, and allows you to have up to 16 differently skinned aircraft per squadron, as in the example below.

3DZ Files:
The default 3dz names remain for the leaders position. That is the P****F.3dz, and if that model is the only one loaded, you will see just the first model replicated in all the squad positions, as in the default game.

For the first wingman you have rename the 3dz P****01F.3dz. For the second wingman P****02.3DZ, and so on up to P****11F.3dz for a normal max squad, and to P****15.3DZ, for extra squads option.

For HR models, you do exactly the same, but you have to rename all the 3dz's for the main model [A, B, C, E, F, G, P] , and I'm adding support for the P****M.3dz, distance model, and P****U.3dz, cockpit wing view, but not for the internal cockpit files, as I see no need for these to be multi skinned.

Internal 3DZ Texture Links:
Once again, for the default slot there is no change P****TEX.PCX/TPC links to P****TRA.PCX/TPC.

For the first wingman, the texture link is P****01TX.PCX/TPC links to P****01TRA.PCX/TPC, and as for the 3dz's the texture has a matching number up to 12 or 15, as before.

For HR models all the files needed have to be changed accordingly:
A.3DZ = P****01AX.PCX/TPC
B.3DZ = P****01BX.PCX/TPC
C.3DZ = P****01CX.PCX/TPC
E.3DZ = P****01EX.PCX/TPC
F.3DZ = P****01TX.PCX/TPC Links to P****01TRA.PCX/TPC
G.3DZ = P****01GX.PCX/TPC
P.3DZ = P****01TX.PCX/TPC
M.3DZ = P****01MX.PCX/TPC Links to P****01MRA.PCX/TPC
U.3DZ = P****01UX.PCX/TPC Links to P****01TRA.PCX/TPC

You will see in the new exe differently painted aircraft in as many positions as you like, up to 16.

As this readme is meant for people upgrading to 1.28C no explanation of these advanced features needs to be given in this document. The only people who need it are the modders creating or updating work for 1.28C. A number of ready made scenarios such as SPAW will shortly be released in installations which make good use of these features.

The new “dir.set”, “cdf.set”, and folder system
MrJelly (10-16-2009)

...1.28C is far more flexible and tidy than any previous version. It can read "CDF.set" files which list the pathnames of the "CDF" files to use. These can have custom names like "DAW3d.cdf" which is used in place of the default "3d.cdf" file. It can also read "Dir.set" files which lists folders and subfolders to use.

The new file loading system:
Knegel (posted October 19, 2009)

Biggest change is a new CDF and Folder structure. These new sets are transparent to the player. That is, they need no special attention. But they will be important to the modder. Specialized tools will be available to "mod" these files. Do not remove any of the original CDF files or .dat files before upgrading to 1.28c, since they may be checked. The game will default to the original CDF files if the new sets are not found in 1.28c.

By default(EAW1.0-EAW1.28b) EAW at 1st looks into the EAW root(same folder like EAW.exe is in) for addon files, if there is nothing there, it take the default files from the ***.cdf files. So by loading addon files into the EAW root, we can change EAW. The drawback is, that addon setups are difficult to adjust and the massive number of files inside the EAW root is very difficult to manage.

The new file loading system allow us to create subfolders where we can point the EAW.exe to, with help of a dir.set file inside the EAW root. The dir.set file is a list of additional folders where the EAW.exe look for files to be used in game. If a Dir.set file is inside the EAW root, the exe open it. The 1st folder name in the list will be the "main folder", the following "sub folder´s" need to be inside this "main folder". So if the dir file is loaded and if we have the related folder structure, EAW will still at 1st look for addon files inside the EAW root, but before it look into the ***.CDF´s, now it will seak the folders for files.

So now we can store our campaigns/scenarios in "read only" subfolders and then we can load a wanted dir.set file to play this setup. We still can load different skins, sky/horizons etc into the EAW root to change this setup, but by this we wont damage it anymore!!

Additionally EAW will create a Savedata folder in each available "main folder", where the related singlemission and campaign result files get stored.

Additionally you can create 5 seasonal folders(spring, summer, fall, winter, light_winter) inside each "main folder", where you can store seasonal terrains and/or just weather setups. This seasonal terrains will get used fitting to the current game date.

Additionally EAW1.28c provide up to 5 different plane sets per scenario(main folder), which the Host can determine to be used.

Example:
A addon maker did offer the following setup:
Main folder name: ETO_01
Subfolder names: 1. Planeset0, 2. Planeset1, 3. Spring, 4. Summer, 5. Fall, 6. Winter, 7. Light_Winter.
Inside each of the plane sets are all needed plane files, like hargar screens, main screen, FM/DM, Skins etc.
Where Planeset0 could be a early ETO plane set(BoB - 1942) with 109F´s, SpitVs etc and the late plane set is more like the default one, but include SpitVLF, Spit16, FW190A6, FW190A8, 109G2, 109G14 etc
Inside the seasonal setup the seasonal terrain, groundobjects and weather setup get stored.

If you now place the related dir.set into the EAW root and start EAW, you can go to configure game and select the wanted planeset (1 or 2) and the season will change with the moving mission date.
In campaign mode the mission date always did move, but now it also move with every single mission you play.
Of course, with an EAW.ini setting, you also can dissable this, so none of the seasonal setups get used, or you can determine one of the 5 setups as static setup.

If you now go online and the others also have this ETO_01 setup, all load the related "dir.set" file and then the host determine which of the plane sets get used.

We can have a endless number of scenario setups(SAW, SPAW, DAW, RAW, FAW etc), they all will get used just by loading the related dir.set file.
Each of this scenarios can include up to 5 plane set folders to be used online.

Also the mission date(month/day) will get transmitted, so all players can play in the same season.

The OAW128 filemanager; The latest version of the OAW128 filemanager has been specially tailored for 1.28C users. It is almost essential for players using the increasing number of multiskins. Again check posts in the EAW forums at SimHQ or CombatAce for further information.

--A “Dir.set” file or folder will contain many special mods. Eventually, it is meant to contain complete “scenarios” that can be accessed and changed in-game.

--A "CDF.set" folder that contains many specialized CDF files. For example, SPAW will have these unique files (and more) in a set:

SPAWSPT.cdf
SPAWDATA.cdf
SPAWMENU.cdf
SPAWPIC.cdf
SPAWFLT.cdf
SPAWPITS.cdf
SPAWTER.cdf

• Details of modding the new files are not part of this README. But some examples and explanations can be found below. For interested modders, here are some explanations of the new folder and CDF system introduced in 1.28c. They are taken from posts at the EAW Code Group.

New Folder and CDF System
MrJelly (posted ??)

…With the ability of the new exe to use custom CDF files with unique names this info will be helpful to modders, and also to me so that I can pack for them.

I have just written a great utility and managed to pack BoB (Autumn) into CDFs which worked in 1.28B (at least on the first attempt). It is the CDFFolderMaker…

I have also uploaded "StrEdit128CV2.EXE" It is an adaption of my old stringfile maker/editor which is able to make "Dir.set" or "CDF.set" files.

SUGGESTED FOLDERS FOR EASY PACKING INTO CDFs

Just to clarify, the new exe (1.28B) can use a "CDF.set" file (which is really a "str" file) in the EAW folder. If none is present it uses the default one stored in a new CDF file which is named "CDF.CDF".

Examples of new modder’s files added:

SPAWSPT.cdf
wsprites.cdf
SPAWDATA.cdf
SPAWMENU.cdf
SPAWPIC.cdf
3D.cdf
movies.cdf
SPAWFLT.cdf
SPAWPITS.cdf
SPAWTER.cdf

The names of the default CDF files are shown:

Folder 1 (sprites.cdf): .spt
Folder 2 (wsprites.cdf) .wsp
Folder 3 (data.cdf): .dat .hm .tm .txl
Folder 4 (menu_eng.cdf): .men .jst .mnu
Folder 5 (Pic.cdf): .pic .pal .mpc .raw
Folder 6 (3D.cdf): .3dz .tpc
Folder 7 (FLT.cdf) .flt
Folder 8 ( cockpits.cdf) .cpt
Folder 9 (terrain.cdf) .ter
Folder 10 (text_eng.cdf) .str


SOUND files:

Folder 11 (speech1.cdf) US*.snd
Folder 12 (speech2.cdf) UK*.snd
Folder 13 (speech3.cdf) Ge*.snd

Folder 14 (sound16.cdf) All other *.snd files

Others that you probably do not use:

.fsp .fnt (fonts.cdf)

.smk: (movies.cdf)

.adp: (music.cdf)

.wsd: (wsound.cdf)

About Foldersystem and DIR.set
From Ralf Knegel (posted 10-05-2009)

now, after the "foldersystem" got ready, i want to explain how to use it:

 
1. the DIR.set is a renamed *.str file and can get created or edited with help of (Mr. Jelly’s) "Str_edit".(he will workout a new tool to edit them on the fly, same like the CDF.set files)

2. Always the 1st line in the DIR.set determine the "main folder", the following max 20 entrys determine the subfolders to be used by the exe

3. A DIR.set also work, if no subfolder got determined, but if there are subfolders listed, they need to be in a row.

4. When a folder, listed in the DIR.set, is not existing, the EAW.exe create it.

5. If there is no "savedata" folder inside the "main folder", the exe create it.

6. If a DIR.set is present inside the EAW root, the exe will store the singlemission files, but also the campaign result files inside the related "savedata" folder(inside the "main folder").

7. Its useful to use a "DIR.set" for every EAW theatre we install, if its not a stand alone installation.
Why? Cause then this new theatre will have its own "savedata" folder, where the campaign and single mission files get stored, which are related to the world setup.

8. You can create a endless number of "subfolders" inside the "Main folder". While only folders, listed in the "DIR.set" get used.


Ok thats about the DIR.set file, now to the possibility's.

Example:

I create a Main folder called "ETO".

Now i create some folders inside it and place the related addons into them:
1. Spring
2. Summer <-summer terrain, trees, objects (no skins in this case)
3. Fall
4. Winter
5. FM_rp2.8_01
6. FM_rp2.8_02
7. FM_rp2.8_03
8. Skins1
9. Skins2
10. Skins3
11. Multiskins
12. Horizon1
13. Horizon2
13. Horizon3
14. Horizon4
15. Horizon5
16. flakdata1
17. flakdata2
18. flakdata3
19. Frontline1
20. Frontline2
21. Frontline3
22. Frontline4
23. year01
24. year02

Now i create some "Dir.set" files with the following entrys:

Dir.Set Number 1.
ETO <--"Mein folder"
Summer
Skins1
FM_rp2.8_01
horizin5
flakdata1
frontline2


Dir.Set Number 2.
ETO <--"Mein folder"
Winter
Skins2
FM_rp2.8_01
horizon4
flakdata2
Frontline2

Dir.Set Number 3.
ETO <--"Mein folder"
Spring
Skins3
FM_rp2.8_03
horizon2
flakdata2

Dir.Set Number 4.
ETO <--"Mein folder"
Summer
Multiskins
FM_rp2.8_01
Frontline3

Dir.Set Number 5.
ETO <--"Mein folder"
FM_rp2.8_02
horizon2
flakdata2


By loading one or the other DIR.set file, I actually load one or the other setup.

For campaigns always the month of the last flown mission date will get used to determine the moth. I doubt many people will fly 20 Missions in a row, without to exit EAW, so the season should fit rather good and a little delay here and there is rather correct anyway.

Actually i don't think its sensible to create a folder for a single file, like i did in my example above. It’s probably better to use OAW for such things, but to switch between the seasons is very simple, cause there is no loading time and no disc fragmentation.

Since the file extension don't matter in this system, we can place the Winter screens(hangar, main screeen) together with the terrain and object graphics, while we can separate the plane 3dz´s and tpcs from the object 3dz´s and tpcs, what is not possible, if we store all in CDF´s.
Also the FM related files can be inside one folder etc.

I am sure we will discover more possibility's and also the limitations of this system, but together with a filemanager, this is a huge advantage over the old system.

btw, i still don't gave up in making the "season" selection related to the current mission date.

That IMHO would be a major goal!

Engine Sounds and Other sounds
Separate engine sounds for each plane slot.
Knegel (posted ??)

This is what I introduced now:

1. We can have 30 PlaneSound**.mpf´s (PlaneSound00.mpf to PlaneSound29.mpf), one for each plane slot.
2. Each file for now include the sound file number for start and run sound, the included sound files get used in-game.
This is what the files need to looks like, if you open it:

[EngineSounds]
StartSound=74
RunSound=75

3. The EAW.exe will look for files with a "default" engine sound number(60 - 119) inside the EAW root, the subfolders and the CDF´s.
4. If the engine sound to be used have a different number, it must be located in a "Sounds\\Engines" folder inside the EAW root.
For now we don't have sounds with a number greater than 119, so we can create addon engine sounds from 120, up to a sound number of 999 and place them inside the "Sounds\\Engines" folder.

If a file include a not existing engine sound number, the exe will take the default one.

This system is future oriented, if we once have for example different gun sounds, we can place the gunsounds inside a "Sounds\\Guns" folder and then the PlaneSounds**.mpf would looks like this:

[EngineSounds]
StartSound=74
RunSound=75
===========
[GunSounds]
SmalMG=
BigMG=
SmalCannon=
BigCannon=

Then we can give the P39Q with the slow firing 37mm the correct gunsound, while the 109K with the fast firing MK108 also would have the correct sound.

Same goes for all other sounds, like different undercarriage move sounds, or different impact sounds, depending to the planes structure(wood or metal, plating or not etc).

So with V26, you can create for example a file named "PlaneSound01.mpf" (P38J slot) and fill it up with the following to get the P47D radial engine sound for it.

[EngineSounds]
StartSound=66
RunSound=67

This file can get placed inside the EAW root or inside one of the "Scenario folders"(SPAW) or at best inside one of the "Scenario Subfolders"(PlaneSet0 folder for the default planes, PlaneSet1 -4 folder for additional planes).

This will minimize the Download time and discspace, for all planes that use only the default plane sounds, though in other slots.

Note: If a sound16.cdf get offered with a new setup and if we point the exe to this CDF, the engine sounds need to be in.

Two Stage Superchargers and Floating Engine Best ALT
Knegel (posted 8-06-2009)
one main problem while creating historical accurate flight performances was the fact that we have just one static "engine best alt" to work with.

As result it was not possible to create planes with a two stage supercharger correct, but we also couldn't model the influence of the speed related RAM effect to the "engines bets alt".

In real life most WWII plane/engine constructions did use the RAM effect to increase the engines best alt, with increasing speed. The discrepancy between "engines best alt" at climb speed particular did differ by 1500m(5000feet) to the "Vmax engines best alt"(P51 for example).

Now we can model all this.

We already started to convert the different planes,

The advantage over the old system is extreme!

1st time we can model what was common knowledge in WWII.
For example the SpitIXc had two extreme power peaks with a big gap in low level and medium alt.
In oposide to this, the FW190A had most power in low level and then where the Spit had its 2nd gap.

As result it did depends very much to the current altitude, which plane did perform, better.
On the other hand, many russian planes had their power peak, where the FW190 had its gap(between 1st and 2nd supercharger stage) and so on.

Additionally it was not wise to slow down in high alt(above engine best alt), cause with decreasing speed, the engines best alt did decrease as well and so the available power also decreased.

We can adjust two "engines best altitudes" and the RAM related influence exact, soecialy for each plane.

This will get available with EAW1.28c, probably in autumn this year.

Tilting At Windmills?
MrJelly (posted 8-12-2009)
Tonight I wrote some additional code and compiled a 1.28C exe which allows two types of sea convoy to be generated as interdiction targets. This has come about in response to a question by Ray Otton regarding SPAW.

There is the normal type which by default is a mixture of transports and destroyers, so it is an escorted convoy, and the new type which is a battle fleet. The additional TMods in the 1.28 family mean that modders can make carriers, battleships, submarines, troop transports, etc, etc, so it makes sense to have more than one type of sea convoy available.

In the exe there are default settings, but if a "ShipList.mpf" is in the EAW folder it is read and the convoy made up to the composition set in the list.

What we now have is the possibility of "warships", which is available as a new interdiction type in single missions and multiplayer, and will have 4 destroyers:1 transport by default, or the settings read from a "WarList.mpf" file in the EAW folder.

Here's a single mission selection:


.... and here we are at the target



I had made a "WarList.mpf" (just a test file containing ten numbers) which read

67
67
67
67
67
67
67
67
67
67

which made a fleet of windmills

I chose them as the target ships because Ade Kelly bemoaned the absence of windmills in a post some time ago, and for some other reason which just escapes me at the moment

2nd Supercharger and Planes converted
Knegel (posted 8-15-2009)
two major drawbacks of the EAW flight model are fixed now.

1. EAW1.2c will provide a 2nd supercharger stage. Only with this we can create historical correct plane performances. Most WWII planes had two stages, but for now we only could model one.

2. EAW1.2c will provide RAM air effect, with increasing speed. This will have a "engine best alt slope" as result, like it was in most WWII planes.
The "engine best alt" or "rated alt" often did vary much with the speed.
For example the SpitIXc Merlin63 had a best alt(1st supercharger stage) of just 8500 feet at climb speed, but this did increase to around 13500 feet with Vmax at this altitude. So the climb at climb speed already start to decrease above 8500 feet, while the Speed reduce only above 13500 feet.
For the 2nd supercharger stage its very similar.

All this we can model now and although the number of value increased, its more easy to adjust the planes fitting to a power/speed/climb curve of the WWII data sheets.

All default fighters and fighter bombers already got adjusted

Controlling Interdiction Selection
MrJelly (posted 9-02-2009)
One of the improvements in 1.28 and later versions has been the ability to select the types of interdiction targets. EAW 1.2 only had three, but currently we have five:
Trucks
Armored columns
Trains
Escorted sea convoys
Warship convoys

The 1.2 system was crude to say the least.
If a target has a shipyard you get a sea convoy, if not but is has a railway station you get a train, otherwise you get trucks.

Sea convoys were a real mess. There is a table in the exe containing a set of targets each with (x,y) coordinates of start and finish points, so if you selected Ostend you would get a sea convoy there to attack. If your target has a shipyard, but is not in the table then a second table is used. This basically contains sets of coordinates of start and finish positions, and the nearest one is used.

Hard coding values like this causes probems. In different scenarios such as SPAW sea convoys are often generated on land. Then there are situations where the scenario has no rail system, but the exe tries to generate a train, often using default values from a "eaw_rrd.dat" file in the "data.cdf".

So some solutions were needed.
The first one included in EAW1.28 was the ability to use a "convoys.dat" file which is like the first table in the exe with targets and coordinates. The table can be built with an editor for any scenario. It can have convoy routes associated with up to 256 targets, and if present in the EAW folder it is used by the 1.28 family of exes in preference to the hard coded one.
However, there still remains the possibility that a user selects a ship interdiction which is not at a target in the table, so the second table comes into play, and may well generate a convoy on land.
The solution to this is to only make ship interdictions available at targets which are in the "convoys.dat" table, so if an invalid target is chosen then the ship interdiction choice does not appear. I have just compiled an 1.28C exe which works in this way

In scenarios where train interdictions are not appropriate a different approach has been used. This new exe will read a "Interdiction.mpf" file if present on the EAW folder.
It contains five values (0/1 for on or off) for trucks, armor, trains, sea transport, battle fleet.
Currently the one I have loaded reads:
0
0
1
0
0

which means that trains will never appear for selection.

This means that a scenario maker can control they types of interdictions selectable to match the scenario he is making.

Some more coding needs to be done regarding the multiplayer and campaign routines.

Automatic Seasonal Switch
Knegel (posted 10-06-2009)

for EAW1.28c we did develop a Automatic seasonal switch and a new folder system, where files can get stored, additional to the EAW root and CDF´s.

For now we just had one static terrain in EAW and in single mission mode, appart from the year, the date was randomized.

Now the single mission month increase with every game start and the day with every new mission. With the month we trigger the 5 seasonal setups(spring, summer, fall, winter, light winter). The month get stored as value inside the EAW.ini, so we also can determine the current season, we also can dissable the seasonal setup with help of this value.
This also allow moving frontlines in single mission mode, depending to the season.

In campaign mode the campaign month get used to trigger the season.

All over EAW1.28c allow to point the EAW.exe to subfolders, where we can install a new theatre(Spainish Airwar for example).

Inside this "SAW" folder a "savedata" folder will get created automatically, so we dont will suffer conflicts between the default savedatas and the "addon theatre savedatas" anymore.
Additionally we can(dont have to) determine up to 20 more subfolders to be used inside the "SAW" folder, where we can place our addons(screens, skins, terrains etc).

We can place many more folders into the "SAW" folder, for example the 5 seasonal folders, with unique terrains or at least weather setups, while, appart from the seasonal folders, always only the folders we want get used.
File extensions dont matter, so we can create different SAW plane folders, where we place the related flight model, skins, hangar screens etc. By pointing the exe to this or that folder, we can switch to a different plane set, without the need to load many files.

Additioanlly we still pack a "default" SAW into SAW***.cdf´s and we also still can load wanted addons right into the EAW root.

EAW1.28c 1st will look into the EAW root directory for files, if the wanted files is not there, it look into the "additional folders", if its not there, it use the file from the CDF, that we determine to be used.

This will provide us addon makers with a very wide flexibility and many new possibilitys and the player with a never seen varity when playing the game, without the need to make changings.

(MrJelly) It really works!
The beauty of it is that files are not being loaded and unloaded to and from the EAW directory.
This cuts down disk fragmentation.

More and Different Plane Sets Selectable within Game
Knegel (posted 10-07-2009)

In close future we will be able to select different plane sets, without to leave the game.

Due to this we can reorganize the plane sets in a more sencefull way.

For example we can use one plane set with the current BoB planes + some more(defiant, Do17z) and additionally we can fill all up with 1941-42 planes(SpitVb, SpitVc, HurriIIa, HurriIIc, P40´s, P39, P38F, SpitIXc Merlin61, Blenheim, Halifax, Welli, Lancaster, 109F2, 109F4, 190A3, 110F, etc.

In the other plane set we can implement a Spit16 and a SpitVc LF and on the German side a 109G2, 109G10, 190A5 and 190A8 or what ever.

We even can have 10 plane sets.

Since we always was able to select different plane sets with help of a external tool, this is most important for the onliners, cause it depends to the host which plane set get loaded, so we can fly many more different planes, without to fear compatibility problems.

FM/DM Modding
Knegel (posted 10-10-2009)

The structure of the external files is still exact the same in EAW1.28 like in EAW1.2.

The new features use (for now) not used values inside this files.

What you need to do to get torpedoes, is to use the EAW1,28 weapons.dat and weapons.str, here the torpedoes are included, then you need to assign the torpedo in the loadout.dat to the wanted plane.

Also the gunpods can be used.

I agree that we need FM/DM updates for other theatres as well, unfortunately there was no time to do this job. :/

Soon i will work on a 1941-42 ETO plane set, this planes also will fit to DAW.

Afterward i want to adjust the FAW plane set, then we also have all planes for RAW.

Unfortunately not many ever got really tight into FM/DMming, so the work will last some time.

Extra Squad and Plane selection
MrJelly (posted 10-10-2009)

The "furball" is just one of many new options in the 1.28C exe. It is activated by making "Extra Squads" = 17. When this is set you can select up to 64 planes from the parameters screen. You do not have to set it to 17, and even if you do there is no need to select 64 planes.

(Knegel) Actually it depends to the "formation" setup of country and the year you fly.

With the "extraquad = 17" value we just enable a additional "big formation" for all fighters and we enable a 2nd bomber group, if the plane is a bomber.

If the addon maker decide to give his squads a "big formation", the player wont be able to change that. This always was like that, with the disadvantage that the players squad had a absolut maximum of 12 planes, so large formations dont made realy sence, cause it was likely that the lonly poor 12 planes of the players squad got slaughtered by the max 64 planes of the enemys squad.
This already get clear, if you use the "normal" extrasquad setup. For me this never was real fun, cause the game balance often was disturbed.

Leading a "air to air rocket armed" German squad to attack a Bomber pulk.
Knegel (posted 11-02-2009)

If your group is armned with "WGR 21 rockets", the best way to be successful is to lead you squad in a wide turn to the rear of the pulk. After this wide turn you should be at least 3,5km strait behind the Pulk in same height.
At this moment you need to command your squad to attack.
The Ai´s "know" rather good at what distance they need to release the rockets, a goos distance is 1100m, but it vary with the approach speed to the bomber.

If the Ai´s are not in a good position (strait behind the pulk, same alt) they often release the rockets with an angle and then they most fail.

To get into this good position is rather easy without escorting fighters, but with escort you need to be very carefully and follow some rules.

1. You need to command your squad to "target bombers".
2. To gain a higher probability to get to the bombers without to get splitted by the escort, its usefull to command the squad to "tighten the formation".
3. You need to look for a hole in the escort cover and lead the squad into it.
4. If a enemy fighter is rather close, command your squad to regroup, again and again(fast).

If you was able to lead 12 FW190´s or 109G´s into a good position, the rockets often will damage many bombers, even if you not always see smoke, be sure, they are not that tough anymore. At least some gunners wont shoot anymore.
The 110G and Me410´s sometimes realy make havoc, when they shoot their rockets.

Just give it a try, if you fly a German career, its worth it.

Changing best engine power heights
Knegel (posted 11-04-2009)

By using "ctrl + G" you can enable some useful information's:

1. fps display.
2. Plane weight in kg
3. Plane weight in lbs
4. Airspeed IAS in km/h
5. Airspeed IAS in mph

Additionally there are three "height" values.

best Alt 1: current best Height (rated height, highest power) of the 1st supercharger stage in feet
best Alt 2: current best Height (rated height, highest power) of the 2nd supercharger stage in feet
best Alt diff: altitude difference to the current supercharger switch height in feet
(when this value is = 0, you be in the current supercharger switch height, often the worst power)

Like in reality this heights are in big degrees related to the current plane speed (ram air effect).

As such you will take notice that the height vary with the speed.

In older FM´s, also still in SPAW, no 2nd supercharger stage got implemented for now, so the 1st supercharger height is = 0 and also the switch height is close to zero.

So in EAW1.28c the rated altitude change with the plane speed, what is another very realistic aspect of air combat with piston engines.

Important to know is that the engines wont overheat if the plane is a little above the current rated altitude. This is so cause above rated altitude the engines cant get loaded with the full pressure anymore, as such the engine run more cool.

So if a plane have two supercharger stages, there is a altitude band, above the 1st rated alt and below the supercharger switch height, where the engine wont overheat and then again above the 2nd rated alt.


If you know the best altitudes of your plane and that of the enemy plane, you can try to force the enemy to fight in you best altitude and you can use the best relative escape altitude or just the best cruise altitude, where the engine wont overheat but offer still good power.

Flight model Info
Knegel (posted 11-11-2009)

with EAW1.28c some rather important things changed in the EAW flight- and damage-model game engine.



1. EAW1.28c support two supercharger stages per plane and floating best power heights.

This give us the possibility to model most WWII engine setups rather exact.

Till now the engine power curve only did support one engine power peek setting, while most WWII planes had two, as result the Plane performance in different altitudes only could be modeled correct for planes with a single stage super charger.

Even then the best power height of most real planes is floating and depends much to the current plane speed, cause often the "RAM air effect" get used to increase the loading pressure. As such most planes had a often by far lower max power height with climb speed than with max speed.

For planes like the P51 this did vary by around 4000feet.



All this now can get (already got for the default plane set) adjusted very exact.





2. More Damage related influence to the Flightmodel

When a plane get damaged on the wings (alerons, flaps etc) this wing will lose max lift and produce more drag, so will do damages on the fuselage.



3. Gunner positions can get deactivated by damages.

If you attack a bomber, by damaging the plane on different positions, you can disable the different gunner positions, step by step.



So if a Pulk get attacked by your squad, normally the 2nd run is a little more harmless, cause most probably some gunners already got disabled.



4. The Stall and Spin behavior got changed

In the default game planes almost only could spin/stall to one and the same direction, now it depends to the flight position and engine torque. So in a right turn its more likely to stall/spin right, in a left turn left.



In the default game planes never did recover by itself and the stall enge wa extreme smal and in all planes rather similar. Now we can adjust the "stall edge width" and also a "stall recover base speed" for each plane.



The "stall edge width" do what it say, a plane with a very smal "stall edge width" tend to go suddenly into a spin and the other way around.

The "stall recover base speed" define roughly a speed where a plane can and will recover a spin by itself.

Note: The real "stall recover speed" get influenced by more factors, like flight position, torque, damage stage etc.

So if you fly fast enough and stall the plane, they normaly will recover just by leaving the controlls alone.



5. Engine start and engine damages when the engine is cold

To be able to start the engine you need to set the throttle to around 50%.

If its far below 50% the engine will show white smoke and quit again. If the throttle is much above 50% the engine will show a wet start and it will take some smal damages. If you repeat this to often, the engine will start to smoke.



If the engine run and still is cold, you need to push the throttle smooth forward, otherwise the engine will take damages.

The engine can overcool now in a long dive with reduced power. If this happen, you need to be carefully with the throttle afterward!!

The Jets need a smooth throttle hand between 0 and 60% throttle, no matter how hot the engine is. If you move the throttle to fast, the tubine will caught figher.

Performance of the planes
Knegel (posted 11-11-2009)



The Performance of the planes fit to the historical data sheets we have.

Since we don't have that many datas for the Bombers, they are more estimated, than the fighters.



Unfortunately i miss the time to give exact figures of the EAW planes for each altitude etc, but here is a very good Aces High fighter comparison, which have rather realistic figures, very similar to ours.



http://www.gonzoville.com/ahcharts/



Here some notes to some EAW planes:



P38H:

5 min WEP, also in climb.

Effective combat flaps.



P38J:

5 min WEP, also in climb.

Boosted alerons(good for highspeed).

Effective combat flaps.



P47´s and P51´s:

5 min WEP, also in climb.



Hurri1a:

No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.



Spit1a:

No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.

Simple one step flaps(only good for landing).



SpitIXc:

One min WEP for climb, 5 Min WEP at all out level speed.

Simple one step flaps(only good for landing).



Spit14e:

5 min WEP, also in climb.

Simple one step flaps(only good for landing).



Typhoon/Temp:

5 min WEP, also in climb.



Mosquito:

One min WEP for climb, 5 Min WEP at all out level speed.



Bf109E-4:

5 min WEP, also in climb.



Bf109G-6:

No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.

Gunpods can get selected.



Bf109K-4:

10min WEP, also at slow speed.



Bf110C-4:

5 min WEP, also in climb.



Bf110G-2

No WEP, so only overheat at very slow speed.

2 x MK108 + 2 x MG151/20



Me410A-1/U2:

One min WEP for climb, 5 Min WEP at all out level speed.

4 x MG151/20, 2 x MG17



FW190A-4:

5 min WEP, also in climb.

4 x MG151/20, 2 x MG17



FW190D-9:

5 min WEP, also in climb.

2 x MG151/20, 2 x MG131

Seasons, All See The Same....
Knegel (11-17-2009)

With EAW1.28c we implemented the possibility to play with seasonal setups (online) and up to 4 different plane sets.

Though for now we didn't release new plane sets, but I'm working on them!

If the player have the correct setup loaded, all players will see the same season and plane set, fitting to the hosts settings.

To achieve this we implemented that the current date and plane set number of the host get transmitted to the clients.

Then EAW load the related season and plane set, if available.

As result we will have more graphical variation and once we got the plane sets ready, we can choose out of up to 120 planes, without the need to load something new.

Testing The Server.exe
Knegel (posted 11-24-2009)

we just test a "server.exe".
This exe make us able to join a already running multiplayer game. Currently we allow max 16 players, but we could open it for up to 256 player, though i doubt the game still would run lag free.

The GameRanger guys was so nice to adjust GameRanger to support our new features!! So now we can play with max 16 people and we can join and leave a steady running "mayhem"(FFA) game by will. We are working on a team setup, where axis planes take off from one base and allieds from a other close base. The player can choose between one and the other nation and different planes. I hope to have this ready till Christmas!

server.exe Further progress!
Knegel (posted 11-26-2009)

We implemented a ground started setup, where the players can join and leave by will.
The host determine the homebases and the available plane types. This support be very nice team "free for all" games. :) Once we are ready, we want to get a 7/24 server going. :)

JIM Code:
Jel (posted 12-11-2009?)

The JIM code is ..... in the 1.28C code so that there was no longer any need for a special JIM exe, and as a result all of the multiplayer enhanced exes Ralf and I are working on can be used with JIM.
It is in the code that Ralf updated.....

It works like this:

If a player selects an instant mission (or has a garbled screen and hits Ctrl-Q) the exe checks for the existence of a "JIM" folder, and if there is one it checks for the existence of a "SingMiss.mpf" file inside the JIM folder.
If both these conditions are met then it reads the data from the "SingMiss.mpf" and starts the instant mission.
Otherwise a normal instant mission is generated.

The external "JIM" utility creates the "SingMiss.mpf" file.

The previous special JIM exes did the same sort of thing, but as soon as they ran they went straight into the single mission routine, read the "SingMiss.mpf" and flew.

Each time we made a new exe I nneded to make a new special exe for JIM, until I realised that a user with a garbled screen could hit "Ctrl-Q" anyway, and instantly fly the mission based on the settings in the "SingMiss.mpf" file. So I did it that way for 1.28c, and of course the code is there forever without the need to make a new exe for JIM.

Flaps and other new Action codes
Col. Gibbon (posted 1-18-2010)

Ralf added new damage codes (was this in v1.28D? or 1.28c?). Ralf did add them to work from 157 on, but as to which number does what. The new codes can only be used by the version of 3dz Studio called Studio X. These are action codes, just like the 143 for the props or 148/9 for the torn off wings. If the hook works as 156, the new codes are active, and if Ralf's codes were add in a logical order from his list the codes should be:

WING_FLAP ADDED FOR FLAPS COL. GIBBON note, 26 = code 154/0/1/2/3 element
DIVE_FLAP ADDED FOR ROTTON note, 27 = code 155/0/4 element
TAIL_HOOK ADDED FOR ROTTON note, 28 = code 156/0/1 element

The new damage ones are then:

ELEVATOR 157/0/1
RUDDER 158/0/1
L_ALERON 159/0/1
R_ALERON 160/0/1
OIL_LINE 161/0/1
FUEL_LINE 162/0/1
HYDRAULIC_LINE 163/0/1
TAIL_GUNNER 164/0/1
RWAIST_GUNNER 165/0/1
LWAIST_GUNNER 166/0/1
TOP_GUNNER 167/0/1
BOTTOM_GUNNER 168/0/1
NOSE_GUNNER 169/0/1

DETAIL:

OIL_LINE 161/0/1 oil on cockpit glass, or bullet holes, and damage on the engine cowl
FUEL_LINE 162/0/1 damage shown on fuel tank areas on wings, or fuselage
HYDRAULIC_LINE 163/0/1 damage to the gear housing, or bullet holes in the wing

(Knegel) the new action codes have no clear definition for what they get used, the names only display the trigger.

For example "Alerons", when a aleron get damaged, the impacts dont need to be rigth at the alerons, instead the linkage could be damaged, so visible damages could be alongside the whole outer wing.

Elevator and Rudder are of course more clear, but i would use them as two different possibiltys to show a damaged tail area, not just as damaged Rudder or Elevator.

CRIT_OIL_LINE and CRIT_FUEL_LINE only can happen on fighters!!
When the nose hitbubble get hit, CRIT_OIL_LINE or CRIT_FUEL_LINE will happen(50/50 chance)
When the center fuselage hibubble get hit, CRIT_FUEL_LINE will happen.

CRIT_HYDRAULIC_LINE can happen on any plane, when the left OR right wing get hit, so i would place visible damages rather to the wing root(damaged alerons can cover the outer wing).

The gunner positions are of course only usefull for planes with the related gunner position, so it wouldnt make sence to add a VAR_LWAIST_GUNNER to an Mosquito.

But once again, also this damages are not meant to show only a damaged gunner position, the EAW damaged are not that exact. VAR_LWAIST_GUNNER will get activated, when the left wing and the center fuselage are damaged to some degrees, so the impacts must have been somewhere around the left wing root.

etc.

(Rotton50) The dive brakes only work when the plane is defined as a "divebomber" in the planes.dat file AND is armed with a bomb.

The flaps up/down key activates the dive brakes until the bomb is dropped then the key activates the regular flaps.

(Col Gibbon) Just like all the action codes 0 [Zero] are normal, or retracted, and 1 [One] is deployed or damaged.

The only exceptions are the flaps which can deploy in stages [0] retracted, [1] deployed 1st stage, [2] deployed 2nd stage, [3] fully deployed flaps.

And the Dive Brakes which use [0] retracted, and [5] deployed.

damage areas (posted 4-23-2010)

1. fuel_line:
Not used on 4-Mots.
Get enabled when the fuselage get hit.

2. oil_line/fuel-line(50%50 probability):
Not used on 4-Mots.
Get enabled when the nose get hit.

3. Hydraulic_line
When right or left inner wing get hit.
So here is no clear definition regarding the position of the impact.

Modding Plane Menus
MrJelly (posted 3-29-2010)

what are the 2 Axis/Allied plane selection screen files called and where are they located?
The files involved are:
ASELECT.MPC
GSELECT.MPC

stored in PIC.CDF

and the corresponding menu files:

ASEL.MEN
GSEL.MEN

stored in MENU_ENG.CDF

In a sense these are "dummy" menu files (still needed) as they put no text on the screen, but just indicate the picture to be displayed. The text is written by the 1.28C/D exe based on the names in the "pnames.str" file.
Only the flyable ones are displayed; if they are not flyable then their names do not appear for selection.

(Knegel) the new screens are way more simple for a modder. Just a picture is needed, the rest is generic.
Though, this cause the difficulty to keep the text area rather clean, so that the text remain good readable.

Another feature of the hardcoded EAW1.28 plane selection menu is that the user can adjust the text color to his need. By clicking to the bottom of the screen the currently available colors of the picture show up in a bar on the bottom, then the player can select a color that is good readable for the current screen. The color then get stored in the EAW.ini.

IMPORTANT NOTE About PlaneSets in v1.28c:
MrJelly (posted on January 24, 2016)

he checked the 1.28c code and confirmed that it does not handle planesets, at least in the way that 1.28e does. He could not find any reference to a "planes" folder, or to the "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files. He thinks this was a start to the planeset system. He have copied the 1.28e ETO folder with 4 planesets and also the "Planes" folder and pasted the copies into the 1.28c folder. Then he removed any 1024x768 PIC and MNU files. Running 1.28c and selecting a planeset (1-4) only gave the default planes. This was expected because there is no mention of the "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files in the source code. However, in Planeset1 he had put a copy of "Config.PIC" and named it "GSELECT.MPC". When I set the planeset as 1 and switched from allied plane selection to axis the screen background switched to the configuration picture. So the upshot is that a whole lot of files can be put in a planeset folder and they will be used. However, The "PDir.set" and "FMDir.set" files are not read so the files in the skin and FM folders that they reference are not loaded)

[END v1.28c]

v1.28b The Code Group - release (July 4, 2009)

EAW1.28b is an EXE update, campaigns are developed or updated to work with it. Although this update is appearing only a couple of weeks after 1.28a was released we were able to fix a number of bugs, and to include some brand new features. There is no need to have 1.28 or 1.28a anymore, they are both redundant.
Jel, Knegel

 

INSTALLING
This small (971 KB) package "128Ato128B.exe" is a self extracting zip file which upgrades 1.28a to 1.28b. The "eaw.exe" is OAW128 manager ready in the "E 1.28b release" folder inside the main "OAW128" folder. If you are not using OAW128 then just copy the new "eaw.exe" into your EAW folder.

To upgrade you first need to upgrade to 1.28a. Check the 1.28a section, and then the install instructions if you need to do this. Then run this extractor "128Ato128B.exe" in your 1.28a directory.

Compatibility:

• ?
• 1.28B uses a larger "runways.dat" file, and up to 256 TMods (0-255) which need a corresponding "tartypes.str" file. This causes problems with older campaigns.

FEATURES/Fixes/Enhancement/Improvements/Changes

Flight/Damage Model:

• Two CDF files (FLT and DATA) have been replaced with improved versions. (Runways.dat is one of many files in the data.cdf which contain updated runway types. These updated CDF files replace the earlier ones.

Loadout:

• none

Particle:

• none

Graphics:

• none

Views:

• none

Difficulty/Settings:

• With EAW1.28b we increased the max range of the sensitivity slider so that people with Saitek sticks still can adjust there stick by the slider. Usually Saitek users needed to edit the EAW.ini by hand, cause the stick itself is very aggressive, so the smallest possible EAW1.2 slider value was still to high.
  As such the graphical position in the configure screen is for sure not the same. So, if you use a old EAW.ini EAW1.28b and EAW1.28c might need adjustment.
  -In 1.2, 1.26, and I believe even 1.28, having the in-game slider all the way to the left gave you a minimum setting in the eaw.ini of 0.80000. The Saitek X52, which is a more aggressive stick than the old Sidewinders, so users had to change their INI to 0.75000, a range the slider could not reach. The difference in 1.28b is that you can now get that lower setting, in-game. So the sensitivity has not changed, only the range of the slider. By default, the in-game setting is still 0.80000, but looks higher because there is more range to the left that you can adjust. Just look at your 'good' setting INI, and adjust accordingly.

Sound:

• none

A.I.:

• Player A.I./AutoCombat (see INI Entries)

Ground:

• Ground battle explosions will show a water splash and no crater, if on water.
• AAA was fixed. (fixed to work again.)

Controls:

• none

Missions:

• The groundstarted encounter groups are back.

Multiplayer:

• The online CTD after all enemys are down (on escorts) has been fixed.

INI Entries:

• An "AutoCombat" EAW.ini entry has been added. AutoCombat=1 will let the players plane fight as an AI plane, on autopilot if the player has an enemy plane target selected. (offline only)
• An adjustable guns convergence setting in the eaw.ini now.

MODDERS INFORMATION

• The new CDF pointer system has been introduced

• There is a third and new CDF which this exe needs named "CDF.CDF". This one contains the default "CDF.set" file which this exe reads for the CDF names to use. It will use a "CDF.set" file in the EAW directory in preference if one is present. This enables modders to release complete packs in custom made CDF files, with an accompanying "CDF.set" file.

• The animation Sprites no longer need to be in the ***Wsprites.cdf. The exe will not miss them anymore, but will use them if they are available. This change was needed, because most addon hangar screens don't use animations. Previously the sprites were disabled by hacking the sprite files. This hack made it impossible to pack this sprites into a custom CDF file, but now this is should be possible, using the CDF pointer system.
  
  Example: The SPAWWSprites.CDF now can get packed without the unnecessary sprite files. The corresponding "CDF.set" file will point the EAW.exe to the "SPAWWSprites.CDF" and since the sprites are not available, the exe will not use them.

• The runways.dat is in the data.cdf, so you would not normally see it in the EAW folder. The 1.28B exe finds it there, and when it checks the number of runway types it is correct and no problem is reported. One of the things necessary to update 1.2 based campaigns so they run in 1.28B is to remove the runways.dat file so it does not get loaded, or better still replace it with one designed for the campaign with the correct number of runway types in it.

CDF File Flexibility
MrJelly (posted 6-30-2009)
While working on ideas for 1.28b I have been able to produce a version which has an additional CDF file named "CDF.cdf".
There is only one file in it, named "CDF.set" which is the default version.
However, if there is a "CDF.set" in the EAW directory, as usual the eaw.exe will use it in preference.
The "CDF.set" file lists the names of the CDF files to be read for the different eaw extenders (apart from "set"), and really opens up the possibility of having several. These names were originally hard coded in the eaw.exe. VBH was able to modify some with LDRs which modified the exe, but my method simply gets the eaw.exe to read a file without the exe itself being modified.
The upshot is that campaign makers will be able to make their own CDFs and a "CDF.set" file, without the need for a special version of the eaw.exe.
For example, when Von Oben reworks FAW for 1.28b he can have a "FAWflt.cdf" which is the equivalent of "flt.cdf", and is named in his "CDF.set" where "flt.cdf" appears in the default "CDF.set". The beauty of this is that CDF files will not be overwritten, and entire scenarios can be packaged in unique CDFs.
"CDF.set" is actually a "str" file, so it can be made as "CDF.str" from a text file using a stringfile maker, and renamed as "cdf.set". The reason for the different name is that the "text_eng.cdf" contains "str" files, and it is safer to have a special CDF with the default "CDF.set" in it.
I have a reasonably late version of SPAW, so I will attempt to make some SPAW CDFs to test this further.

(Rotton50) OK, sounds promising.
On that issue, MADProf has tried packing SPAW into CDF's and everything packs except the .wsp files.
He will check in I'm sure. Maybe someone else has had this problem and found the solution.

(Knegel) some files extensions are not listed in the CDF packer, you need to add them by hand.

For example inside the DATA.CDF are mainly ***.dat files, and the packer only show this format as option, but there is also a ***.HM and ***.TM file.

After selecting *.dat, you need to add ;*.TM;*.HM so the full like will display " *.dat;*.TM;*.HM " all without space, after ward you can click to refresh list and all will be fine.

I guess its the same with the *.wsp files.

Another possibility is that you gave to long names. The CDF packer is a Dos application, so there is a file name length limit, if the name is to long, the packer wont pack it.

(Jel) I have done some more work to include references to CDFs in other parts of the code where CDF switching occurs. I'll post the code files to Ralf.

I have packed an old beta version of SPAW into CDFs, apart from two sets of files.
The first is the set which would belong to "3d.cdf" but some of the filenames are too long (over eight characters- especially the TMods).
The second is the "wsp" set which I think contains "null" versions of the hangar screen sprites.
I suspect that the packer is not handling the null versions properly, which is why the cdf built from them does not work.
So it is working with these CDFs, plus one folder of "unpackable" files


fonts.cdf
SPAWSPT.cdf
wsprites.cdf
SPAWDATA.cdf
SPAWMENU.cdf
SPAWPIC.cdf
3D.cdf
movies.cdf
SPAWFLT.cdf
SPAWPITS.cdf
SPAWTER.cdf
music.cdf
wsound.cdf
SPAWS16.cdf
SPAWTEXT.cdf
grbrief.cdf
ukbrief.cdf
usbrief.cdf
SPAWSP1.cdf
SPAWSP2.cdf
SPAWSP3.cdf

The text is the text in the "CDF.set" file created for my version of SPAW and used by the current 1.29B beta which Ralf posted for testing. This is the corresponding text of the default one stored in the "CDF.CDF" file:

fonts.cdf
sprites.cdf
wsprites.cdf
data.cdf
menu_eng.cdf
pic.cdf
3d.cdf
movies.cdf
FLT.cdf
cockpits.cdf
terrain.cdf
music.cdf
wsound.cdf
sound16.cdf
text_eng.cdf
grbrief.cdf
ukbrief.cdf
usbrief.cdf
speech1.cdf
speech2.cdf
speech3.cdf

I have developed this further and written a utility that copies "original" folders containing the files from the stock CDFs, as "working" folders, pasted a complete set of Mod files into the appropriate working folders based on the individual filename, and told me which working folders had been modified.
Then I am able to use the CDF packing utility to make CDFs containing the modified filenames, and give them custom names.

As a result I made a CDF version of the recent BoB release, I copied the custom CDFs into the EAW directory, loaded the corresponding "CDF.set" file with OAW128 and flew an intercept with what is likely to be the release version of EAW 1.28B

Having developed the CDF handling software further I was able to take a full set of DAW files, store them in CDFs. make a folder with a couple of extra 1.28B compatible files and be in the air in a Spit V attacking Ju 87s in less than 30 minutes!

I have FAW 1939, 1941 and 1944 Summer packed for online play with 1.28B. Winter Next!

Individual savedata
MrJelly (posted 6-30-2009)

Following the success of the custom CDF system for campaigns I have now been able to use individual "savedata" folders for them. There can be up to ten of them in one EAW folder, including "savedata" itself. Their names are "SavDat1" through to "Savdat9".
"Savedata" is referenced in several routines, sometimes as text, and other times as a variable. I have been able to expand each one of these routines, so that the actual name is dependent on a value in a special file. The file is loaded with the campaign, and when the exe reads it it creates the directory (if none is present) and uses it for saving all the things that would normally be saved in "savedata".
My SAW setup have a value of "3" in the special file, so when I loaded SAW and ran the exe it read the file and created a "SavDat3" directory in which all the SAW stuff will be saved from now on.

One advantage of having the code is that we can have additional CDF files (not replacements), and even new filetypes (such as "*.set" and "*.mpf") if we need them. This has opened up a heap of possibilities.

The CDFs remain in the root folder.

Here is the text extracted from the "CDF.set" (really a *.str file) which is in the W-SAW folder:

fonts.cdf
SAWSPRITES.cdf
NOHANGWS.CDF
SAWDATA.cdf
SAWMENU_EN.cdf
SAWPIC.cdf
SAW3D.cdf
movies.cdf
SAWFLT.cdf
SAWCOCKPIT.cdf
SAWTERRAIN.cdf
music.cdf
wsound.cdf
SAWSOUND16.cdf
SAWTEXT_EN.cdf
grbrief.cdf
ukbrief.cdf
usbrief.cdf
SAWSPEECH1.cdf
SAWSPEECH2.cdf
SAWSPEECH3.cdf


As you can see some are EAW stock ones, but most are SAW specific. There is also the NOHANGWS.CDF which does not have the hangar sprites in it, which 1.28B does not worry about if it cannot find them.

Originally as you know the CDFs were listed and hard coded as text in the exe. Now they are not. Their names have been replaced by variables which are read in order from the "CDF.set" file during the set-up routine.

The default one (stored in the "CDF.CDF" file reads

fonts.cdf
sprites.cdf
wsprites.cdf
data.cdf
menu_eng.cdf
pic.cdf
3d.cdf
movies.cdf
FLT.cdf
cockpits.cdf
terrain.cdf
music.cdf
wsound.cdf
sound16.cdf
text_eng.cdf
grbrief.cdf
ukbrief.cdf
usbrief.cdf
speech1.cdf
speech2.cdf
speech3.cdf

So if no "CDF.set" file is in the root folder the exe will use the default ones.
The "CDF.set" file for SAW is loaded by the OAW selector when the user selects "W-SAW", and is use in preference to the default one.


Normally so few files are loaded by this system that it reduces disk fragmentation, and is very quick. The only real problems occur when modders create files which cannot be packed into CDFs- the usual cause is filenames longer than the old DOS eight characters.
These just go into the "W" folder.

Check my OAW 128 folder, you can see that I have DAW, SAW, SPAW and BoB packed already in W-Folders. FAW was rather complex so it has been broken up into 1939, 1941 and 1944 versions with both summer and winter skins and terrain. We (BPNZ, Pobs, Ralf, and I) have been flying them online- selection is just a matter of a couple of mouseclicks.

About "Random" Encounters
Knegel (posted 7-17-2009)
One of the interesting new options are "random" encounter groups, actually they are not randomized, but the lot of influencing factors make it look like random.
So its possible to see a enemy squad taking off, if you get close to an enemy base. Sometimes they spawn somewhere in your area and sometimes they take off from a base some miles away to intercept you.

Summarize Some updates
Knegel (posted 7-17-2009)
The new Ai behavior and gameplay related setups, but also things like guns convergence, destroyable tail gunners, more different plane damages, new engine overheat management, one engine sound per plane, one reticle per plane, flyable bombers, night bmber stream, related night fighter formations, radar at night, carriers etc make EAW more to an simulation and increase the all over possibilities much.
Not to talk about the multi skins (every plane can wear its own skin) and frontline ground action.

If you did like EAW1.2, you will have much to discover in EAW1.28b.

btw, we just work on very easy usable addon campaigns, where most of the campaign files goes right into the EAW directory and they stay there, while you can switch by easy between spain, Finnland, pacific etc. (This should be in the next update)

Some Changes
Knegel (posted 7-04-2009)
-The new CDF pointer system has been introduced
-The online CTD after all enemys are down (on escorts) has been fixed.
-The groundstarted encounter groups are back.
-An "AutoCombat" EAW.ini entry has been added.
AutoCombat=1 will let the players plane fight as an AI plane,
on autopilot if the player has an enemy plane target selected.
-Ground battle explositions will show a water spash and no crater, if on water.

-The animation Sprites no longer need to be in the ***Wsprites.cdf.
The exe will not miss them anymore, but will use them if they are available.
This change was needed, because most addon hangar screens don't use animations.
Previously the sprites were disabled by hacking the sprite files.
This hack made it impossible to pack this sprites into a custom CDF file,
but now this is should be possible, using the CDF pointer system.

Example: The SPAWWSprites.CDF now can get packed without the unnecessary sprite files.
The corresponding "CDF.set" file will point the EAW.exe to the "SPAWWSprites.CDF" and since the spriites are not available, the exe will not use them.

[END v1.28b]

v1.28a The Code Group - release (June 19 2009 -June 21 2009)

Building on the success of the EAW 1.28 patch, 1.28a provides a large list of ground-breaking additions, as well as many important bug fixes to the original game. In many ways more has been achieved than the original 1.28 patch. We hope you get a kick out of it! With all the online / offline possibilities, it would be pleasing to see a resurgence in the game's popularity. Enjoy! The EAW Code Group.

INSTALLING

Two patches are available for download. One is to upgrade from 1.28 and a larger one is to upgrade from the standard 1.2 setup. Use only the version related to the existing EAW version you have. Clean 1.2 to 1.28a is for those users that currently have EAW 1.2 installed 1.28 to 1.28a is for those that have already 1.28 installed.

Clean 1.2 to 1.28a
This is a large download 46 MB
120to128a.exe

1.28 to 1.28a
This is a smaller download 11 MB
128to128a.exe

1. Backup your eaw.ini file before installation, so that you can carefully copy back in your joystick/view settings.
2. Whichever patch you use, save the patch file into the EAW game folder you wish to upgrade (a clean setup with no addons is best) and double click on it to start the installation.
3 Confirm the folder as being the one you wish to upgrade and continue to install the patch. Please be aware that the installation will overwrite nearly all of the original files.
4. Delete the old eaw.ini file (if there is one), so that a new one is created with the new entries, the first time you start the game.

Compatibility:

• ?

FEATURES/Fixes/Enhancement/Improvements/Changes

Flight/Damage Model:

• Minor changes to Flight Models, including the Fw109A and Spitfire IXc modeling better performance more correct for the mid 1943 time period.
  
  
• A new engine burn sequence got included. Engines can be destroyed now without fire, but they also can burn forever.

• Its possible that a plane/engines will not stop burning (a rather small random factor), if the pilot doesn't bail in time on a single engine plane, he will burn (die). The Player can help to stop the fire by reducing the throttle to zero, by a high speed dive or by ditching the plane on the ground.
  If a engine of a multi engine plane doesn't stop to burning, the crew will give up the plane after a while, then it will count as shot down. So by some random luck its possible to destroy a 4Mot by destroying only one engine.

• The stall routine got adjusted so planes can spin in both directions. The Stall/Spin routine was rewritten. Planes can stall and recover without staying in a Spin. Spins can recover alone. Planes can now stall/spin to the right and left side, depending on the flight position and engine torque moment.

• A new stall/spin routine
  - planes can now stall/spin to both directions (there was a real bug in the code).
  - the stall edge width can get adjusted for each plane by an former unused flight file value. This offer a wider range of different stall behaviors.
  - In general the stall edge got wider.
  - at a wide range of speed stalls can happen rather fast, when the stick get pulled full back.
  - stalls at speeds above the "recover speed" will recover by itself, if the pilot release the controls.
  - spins most only will happen, when the plane is rather slow(below the "recover speed").
  - spins will recover by itself, if the plane overcome the "recover speed"
  - the "recover speed" depends to the current depart angle and a speed value that can get adjusted for each plane by an former unused flight file value. This in combination with the adjustable "stall edge width" will offer a very wide range of possibilities.

• Planes can have "simple flaps", (planes.dat value, former used to trigger the "carrier landing"), which extract in one big step (Full Flaps) only full or nothing, and are select-able for some planes, like all Spitfire planes Full flaps is selectable, as is historically correct.

• A new, simplified but more exact flight-dynamic calculation, where even the ammunition weight of the bullet shot get subtracted from the plane weight (less bullets = more light plane); The plane weight get reduced by used bullets (plane weight minus bullet weight shot).

• Ordnance weight remains correct during flight; If you fire your guns the weight of bullets is reduced from the plane weight correctly, each shot (less bullets = more light plane). If you drop a bomb, the weight and drag of the bomb rack remains.

• Overheat routine changed so air cooled engines can smoke when damaged without overheat, until the oil is empty.

• Air cooled engines will cool down slower and heat up faster at slower speeds.

• An engine 'rated altitude' setting got introduced for all planes. Above this altitude, the engines almost don't overheat. This setting can get adjusted in the ***.flt files.

• The undercarriage will extend only one more time after the hydraulic got damaged. (if the undercarriage itself get damaged, it wont work anymore.) This will happen without sound as there is no power used! Then it wont retract!

• Landing gear is more delicate; Undercarriages can break now. (unlike in EAW1.2 you could drive with 150km/h and full side rudder) When you land, you can break your undercarriage, if you turn to rapidly (the toughness of the undercarriage can get adjusted in the flight files).

• Craters are dangerous, the undercarriage will break, if a plane run through a crater, so be careful on bombed runways.

• In the extreme low level flight you can damage just the propeller. (some feet)

• The plane ditching routine got rewritten. Now propellers/engines will stop to run, if the plane get very low (some feet), it don't matter if the engine is damaged or not. (Before the engine had to be completely destroyed to stop it, but if this did happen did depend much to the flight files and how hard the planes did ditch. Now a engine / propeller can stop to work, although the engine itself don't show even smoke, your fuselage even don't need to touch the ground.)

• The strange "nose down" movement/force below 100 feet altitude (when HUD turns red) is now disabled. Big planes / bombers had real problems, now they are able to land better.

• Plane slot related adjustments got disabled, now the Ai behavior got adjusted related to the plane type. In this way we can place (for example) a jet into the Hurri slot and the Ai will use the plane like a jet. This also disabled some CTD, that could happen, if for example a American F6F got placed into a British slot plane slot (of course for the default plane setup this don't matter).

• A "tail hook" action code (small but nice addition), for landing on carriers. There is a Tail hook action code, for carrier planes, which only work if the plane land on a carrier (not on a land base). you won't see the tailhook unless you are landing on the correct airfield. I believe it is Airfield06.3dz. Plus, you won't see it at all on take off. That was done so that carrier based planes won't show the tailhook when landing on land based fields. Also, the tailhook disappears if you go to full throttle while in the landing pattern as if experiencing a "waveoff / go around".

Loadout:

• Working torpedoes; load and release (including graphical wakes) are now a loadout option in single missions, and are loaded if bombs are chosen for a online "Ship" interdiction mission. The AI can use them successfully also.
• Every plane can have a ONE gunpod option, select-able from the loadout screen. (very nice for the 109G and 190A, but also Russian planes used this).

• The fuel weight/Volume display calculation got adjusted. British planes now use "Gallon UK", US planes "Gallon US" (like before), while for German planes the calculation show the right Litres to the weight now.

• not every bullet is a tracer anymore (in EAW1.2 it was a laser gun like bullet stream).

Particle:

• none

Graphics:

• A Flaps action code got added so that flaps (including diveflaps if fitted) can graphically deploy and retract, if the plane model has been built to include this feature.
• Terrain shimmering got partially fixed (thanks Allen)
• Keibins Horizon 5 got implemented as default.

• Mr.Jelly’s 7217 fix got added by default. This cures many instants of this type of error. The code Group is still researching the ultimate fix for this problem.

• We have found a way to make the new 1.28a exe handle a large number of multiskin files more effectively. (Before it would freeze the game when loading for random encounters-?is this what was fixed?)

Views:

• Every plane can have its own reticle!!; One gunsight reticule per plane slot was implemented.
• The 109E4 cockpit fix got implemented (propeller position and more smooth propeller graphic).

• Control of head movement position in snapviews for each plane (most planes) by values in 30 (Better field of vision in the new EAW is only related to the snapviews in virtual cockpit mode, its not replated to panview or padlock. Actually the field of vision remain the same, but in snapview mode the point of view shift a little, so the player is able to look around the cockpit frames and rear plating/tail. The default 2d cockpit already did/do provide this feature.)

• We have 4 steps zoom now. If you push snapview forward (usually hat switch), the pilot will move rearward. This offers the sight to the gauges and around the frames. If zoomed in, we have also a Y offset, so although zoomed in, the pilot don't sit that close to the gunsight. This is a perfect attack view.

• Padlock used to be disabled when the plane stalled, now it only will get disabled when the plane spins.

• A "computed gunsight" gets triggered by an planes.dat value and additionally the user can disable it with the EAW.ini value. The "gyro" gunsight only works in "gunsight mode"(1st step zoom). It gets adjusted to the movements of the currently toggled target (icon), otherwise to the closest target. The gunsight adjusts the reticule in relation to your own and the targets G-force. So it won't work as well if your plane has a different bank angle than your opponent. The gunsight currently got activated only for the P51D, P47D, Me262A, Bf109K, FW190D9, Spit14 and TempestV.

• AI speed when using IAS on the HUD is now correct.

Difficulty/Settings:

• none

Sound:

• none

A.I.:

• The AI defensive and offensive maneuver routines got rewritten.
• Even Squadron Dispersion after a completed mission.....No more do you see Aircraft slicing through each other or stacking up on top of one another.
• fighter Ai´s will stick better on target now, specially the escorting Ai´s, but also the intercepting Ai´s got by far better.
• The AI´s shoot better if under G forces now.
• The dive attack routine got rewritten. Ai´s will attack different ground vehicles
• AI planes will 'follow' moving ground targets when doing interdict missions. AIs will be very effective while interdict missions, specially with Bombs and Torpedos, Rockets are not that good
• AI routines were adjusted to allow AI to takeoff or land on carriers. (the take off and landing routine etc had to get adjusted).
• The Ai landing routine got rewritten, now planes can land rather exact even on bases where the runway is hill up or downward (for now Ai planes have real trouble to land on such bases).
• AI´s got a torpedo attack routine; will make a low level torpedo run (many routines had to get adjusted)

• The gun ground attack routine got fixed (strafing planes almost never used guns while making ground attacks).

• Turrets will work on all convoy ships.

Ground:

• Ground battle explosions activity introduced near frontline (see ini entries)

• Transparent ground object shadows implemented

• Frontline Tmod graphics got implemented

• Frontline people sprites got implemented

• A Lifted carrier runway flight deck got included, to trigger the carrier landing routine, (Only non usable CV´s can move)

• Usable Carriers; The ability to fly from or land on carriers with a flight deck 60 feet high, set as airfields anywhere on a water tile. 

• You can sink the carriers with bombs, rockets and also torpedos.

• The ability to fly from or land on water in seaplanes.

Controls:

• Time acceleration now goes in smaller steps upward: 2,4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36 to max 40, this decreases the probability of crashing by accident.

• Now when using "Control G", in addition to fps the current plane weight (in lb and kg) and the IAS speed (in km/h and mph) gets displayed. This is very useful for testing. You can see the weight of the loadout, of racks, of the used fuel and you can see the weight reduction when you shoot the guns.

• Autoclimb "Shift A" is available (online) as addition to the Wingleveler and Auto pilot. The Auto climb is available offline as well, by selecting "Autopilot" two times. This feature puts the plane into a sustained climb that accounts for engine temperature and power changes. EX: The player can enable it, then the plane will climb to the current direction (if it have enough power to climb).

• The bail out routine got disabled if the plane is below 30 feet alt!

• If we land and bail out, we will see the pilot running away and we don't count as being dead.

• New "gun selection/fire" system; A new gun selection system, with up to three different gun trigger buttons. (INI Entries are below)

• With the right loadout, we can drop the loadout in two steps (Example: Ju87, 1st the center bomb, then then the wing bombs).

Missions:

• Encounter groups work now (sometimes they even they take off), so you might encounter several different enemy groups on the way to Berlin.

• Random encounters- planes may spawn from airfields as you are on the way to a target; In single missions and career mode random encounters, planes which spawn from airfields as you are on the way to a target. "Scramble encounter groups" now only will appear if we fly below 12000 feet. Friendly groundstarted encounter groups are also possible. Radar related encounter groups appear mainly in the air, rather big distances from their homebase. Airfield related encounters appear only if you get rather close to an enemy base in rather low altitude.

• Encounter groups. (the encounter group plane types are related to the homebase setting (Airfield.dat))
  - You can stumble over enemy encounter groups (not only close to the target).
  - One kind of encounter groups is related to the radar coverage, airfield strength and a new EAW.ini entry. They only can appear if a enemy fighter base is not to far away, if this base keep fighters that fit to the current mission year, to the radar coverage and a random factor, which can get adjusted by the EAW.ini entry.
  - Another kind of encounter groups is related to your "distance per height" to an enemy base and you need to be closer than 35 miles to an enemy base. Also here fighters only will take off, if the base keep fighters of the current mission time period. This way of encounter simulate an emergency scramble, or and take off by accident (who knows? :) ).
  - in rare random cases also bombers can show up, instead of fighters.

• German single mission Intercepts and allied escorts are now possible in 1940, if a allied 1940-bombers is present (not by default).

• Squads can have 16 planes while doing interdict and bomb mission.

• The current frontline gets displayed in multiplayer or single mission briefing and in-flight maps.

• A 4th frontline got activated for single missions and online games. (In EAW1.2 we had the same frontline in 1944 and 45.) With the included new frontline for 1944, we will get many bases close to the frontline. This is very good for real time missions (on and offline).

• Frontline ground battle (Explosion activity on the ground when you are close to the frontline.)
  - The can be cannon impacts along the frontline (the frequency is adjustable by an EAW.ini setting)
  - We now have frontline target skins. All targets close to the frontline can use a allied or axis skin, depending to the side of the frontline. So we can have damaged buildings, troops, tanks etc close to the frontline.
  - We have axis and allied soldiers, close to the frontline.

• The regroup order while escorting missions got fixed (if there is a 2nd escorting group, it now won’t return to base).

Multiplayer:

• The most important change has been vastly improved stability allowing up to 16 human pilots (instead of 8 like in v1.2) (including for 16 player in-game chat, including about nearly 100 AI planes depending on your connection speed.)

• Changes in the 1999 1.2 and 1.28 time delay routines which prevent users with fast connections from flying online in the year 2009...a major issue. (several members cannot fly 1.2, or even 1.28 in multiplayer mode. The reason is that in line with the modem speeds of 1999 a number of delay routines were included in the code, to slow things down. With ADSL and faster routers these delay routines cause connection problems in 2009- basically the game times out because nothing appears to be happening. We have fixed the problem, and we can fly online using 1.28a.)

• the multiplayer interface, which we needed to re-code to make more room

• Online the host can (doesn't have to) select many setups that where not selectable in EAW1.2, some of this setups had to be selected before the game started. For example: The own and enemy homebase, the AI plane types, the target, ground/air start, respawn on/off etc.

• re-code the chat screen which only lists the "other seven" players, but still allows you to chat

• The ability of the host to select both primary and secondary bases for friendly and enemy. This allows meaningful escorts/intercepts in real time, with fighters from one base and bombers from another.

• Some fixes regarding the online briefing:
  1. If "Mayhem" is selected, no AI planes will get displayed anymore.
  2. If "Mayhem" is selected, "starting point" "high altitude" and "low altitude" get displayed.
  3. Mayhems wont show "respawn" and "No Ai´s" anymore.

• In 1.28a the aaa wont shoot anymore while a mayhem game.

• In Green and Veteran mode ALL active planes show an icon on the map. In Ace mode only the friendly planes show an icon.

• The engine status (run or stopped) gets transmitted, so now we can see if someone shuts down their engine.

• The "Host Sound Bug", where the host player could not hear bullets hitting his plane, is fixed.

• The multiplayer debriefing screen now works for all known card/driver combinations, including glide users.

• Autoclimb "Shift A" is available (see Controls).

INI Entries:

• WW1TakeOff=1 Gives the across the paddock take off for fighters on a grass runway (0 uses the 1.2 default).
• KeyboardLanguage=0 (English default)
  =1 (German)
  =2 (French)
  =3 (Spanish)
  =4 (Italian)
• BirdSeed=0, no birds will spawn anymore, otherwise range is 1 to 5
• FlakAccuracy=2  (the Flak ini settings influence the heavy flak only).
  FlakRof=2
  The current default setting (2 / 2) show to be around the equivalent of stock v1.2 settings. Real max settings are not known, with 10(accruracy) and 1(rof) I don't get any flak....accuracy 0-3 and rof 0-100 seems to be useful values. (Dependent on ones computer; The Frame Rate will effect the outcome). Accuracy can be 0 and as it increases the flak bursts group together more and more. Having a value of 10 just about puts them all together, creating a straight line effect of flak-burst groups.
  
  Flak (in the source code) uses a bitwise shift, This bitwise shift works like this:
  If flak accuracy = 0 then some distances are divided by 2 to the power 0 so they are divided by 1
  If flak accuracy = 1 then some distances are divided by 2 to the power 1 so they are divided by 2
  If flak accuracy = 2 then some distances are divided by 2 to the power 2 so they are divided by 4
  If flak accuracy = 3 then some distances are divided by 2 to the power 3 so they are divided by 8....
  If flak accuracy = 10 then some distances are divided by 2 to the power 10 so they are divided by 1024
  So only divisors of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024.......... are possible.
  (?Flak damage (two values) is apparently hard coded in the source code?)
   
• OldDamage=0, 1= a more EAW1.2 compatible bullet damage calculation gets used and the default EAW1.2 engine overheat system. Good backward compatibility for old campaigns etc. (Higher Bullet Power)
• GroundBattle=1, 0 is No ground battle, 9 is max action, explosion activity on the ground when you are close to the frontline. So good just to watch!
• EnemyEncounter=100, 0 = no encounter, 512 = max probability.
  This influences the encounter probability, related to the radar. Airbase encounter groups are not related to the radar, but to the flight height.
• FriendlyEncounter=100
• ComputedGunsight=1, 0= fixed gunsight (see information above in Views)
  New Gun Selection Setup:
• FIRE ALL GUNS=Joystick_Btn_1
• FIRE ADDITIONAL GUNS=S
• ADDITIONAL GUNS BUTTON SWAP=SHIFT S
• ADDITIONAL GUNS ON/OFF=Z
• FIRE PRIMARY GUNS=X
• FIRE SECONDARY GUNS=C

New "gun selection/fire" system
Knegel

We don’t need to switch through different, in most cases not needed, gun setups anymore, instead we can have up to three “fire buttons”, as was normal in real planes.

For people who want to shoot all guns with one and the same button, “FIRE ALL (selected) GUNS” remain, but additionally we can “FIRE SECONDARY GUNS” with an additional button and we can “FIRE PRIMARY GUNS” with another button.

Further more we can toggle “ADDITIONAL GUNS ON/OFF”. Additional guns count as all guns that are not in the 1st or 2nd gun slot. For example the gun pods of the Bf 109G6 and the outer wing guns of the FW190A4 are additional guns.

By default the additional guns are a part of the “secondary gun”, so they get used by “FIRE SECONDARY GUNS” or “FIRE ALL (selected) GUNS”. Though, if the additional guns are “toggled off”, they wont shoot with the other guns.

Furthermore we can use the “ADDITIONAL GUNS BUTTON SWAP”. If this button gets pushed, the “ADDITIONAL GUNS ON/OFF” gets to be the “FIRE ADDITIONAL GUNS” button.

Now we have three separated fire buttons. This is needed when the additional guns don’t shoot to the same direction like all other guns. This is the case for “Schäge Musik” guns (German night fighters), for straight rearward firing guns (some German planes had this) and for some ground attack guns, adjusted to shoot downward.

For all these cases it doesn’t make sense to shoot the guns together with the “normal” forward shooting guns.
This example is for a historically correct German gun selection setup:

FIRE PRIMARY GUNS=Joystick_Btn_1

FIRE SECONDARY GUNS = Joystick_Btn (stick grip top front left)

ADDITIONAL GUNS ON/OFF= Joystick_Btn (stick grip top rear left)

ADDITIONAL GUNS BUTTON SWAP=SPACE after this got used “Joystick_Btn (stick grip top rear left)” will act as “FIRE ADDITIONAL GUNS”.
 

MODDERS INFORMATION

• Multi Skins are now possible for all plane squadrons. (different skins for each plane) Some historical squadron skin packs are already available for both D3D (24 bit BMP) and Glide users (8 bit: with PCX/TPC's multiskins works without a glitch.); (different camo & markings for each of the 16 airplanes from the staffel/Squadron) and multi-colored skins thanks of the now 24 bit coding possibility. They will appear in multiplayer or single missions. How it works is simple really; Each slot loads it's default plane, and if it finds a numbered model between 01 to 15, the exe will load that model, with it's separate linked skin, into it's allotted position.

• Fully Transparent Airfields are possible

• A external ship convoy table, where the position and course of the convoy can get determined.

• Nation related skins for the ships (same like for all other ground objects).

• SnapViews adjustment: 30 "vc_offset_**.mpf" files inside the savedata folder can be adjusted for the viewpoint for each snapview position, An editor, EAWMUtilityV2.exe is included to allow people to edit them to there personal preference, its actually just a text file. (note: two other values in this file are to adjust the guns convergence for this plane.)

• The possibility to add 5 additional map tiles got introduced.

• The max number of runways got increased to 32

• Close to the frontline, the ground objects (tanks, people etc) can be side specific (eg. German, Allied) if the right TMmod numbering is used.

• The take off style gets triggered by the runway type. (1.28a uses more runway types.)
  RW_CARRIER = carrier take off
  RW_GASS = WWI take off
  RW_CONCRETE + RW_STEELMAT = normal take off
  Bombers and multi engine planes always use the normal take off (if not RW_CARRIER)

• An external "Year.dat" got introduced. The "Year.dat" entrys get displayed on the briefing screens (black chalkboard background) and in the logbook.
  Other years need to get changed with help of the dnames.str and sq****,dat´s.

• Flak and AAA settings are adjustable, This is a BIG improvement for ground pounders. Adjustable via the either the ini settings (for heavy) and presence of FlakData.dat in the EAW folder (for light and Small Cal). FlakData.dat; You can tuned down these two by creating a FlakData.dat file, what is nothing more than a FlakData.txt, renamed to FlakData.dat.
  This are the values in the needed sequence.
  LightAAACaliber = 12;
  LightAAADuration = 240;
  LightAAArof = 13;
  SmalAAACaliber = 04;
  SmalAAADuration = 160;
  SmalAAArof = 15;
  
  The contents of a FlakData.txt, to provide the above values would look like this (just one example):
  
  12
  240
  13
  4
  160
  15
  
  And the following describe the max/min possibilities:
  
  LightAAACaliber 2(30.cal), 4(50.cal), 12(20mm), 24(30mm) (The actual gun sound you will hear)
  LightAAADuration = 0 - 255 (this also influence the damage power with increasing distance, and the range of the tracers)
  LightAAArof = 0 - 255 (this of course influence the hit probability and so the damage power, but also the number of tracers)
  SmalAAACaliber 2(30.cal), 4(50.cal), 12(20mm), 24(30mm) (The actual gun sound heard)
  SmalAAADuration = 0 - 255 (this also influence the damage power with increasing distance, and the range of the tracers)
  SmalAAArof = 0 - 255 (this of course influence the hit probability and so the damage power, but also the number of tracers)
  
  I can suggest to use the following values, they just cut the default hit probability down to 50%.
  
  12
  240
  7
  4
  160
  8
   

• For the people who are interested in how the planes behave, this is important: Each plane got a "rated altitude" setting, above rated altitude the engines wont overheat anymore. This setting can get adjusted in the ***.flt files.

• Also the planes stall edge width can get adjusted for each individual plane.

• The "computed gunsight" got adjusted and activated. It get triggered by an planes.dat value and additionally the user can disable it with an EAW.ini value.

• The rocket engine + flames can get used in any slot.

• The V1 can get placed in any slot, the V1 slot can get used for a normal plane.

The "frontline related target/object skins" which move with the Frontline.
From Knegel (posted ??)

Depending to the relative position to the frontline, every Target/object that use Tmod_**`.3dz´s can have up to three additional skins.

1. A Tmod skin which replace the default Tmod skin of the same target/object on the axis side of the frontline(Axis Tmod skin).
2. A Tmod skin which replace the default and the Axis Tmod skin of the same target/object, if the target/object is within a range of 1 Mile to the frontline(battle area Tmod skin).
3. A Tmod skin which replace all other Tmod skins of the same target/object, within 1 mile range on the axis side of the frontline(Axis battleline Tmod skins) .

Unfortunately it was not possible for us to implement complete axis and allied targets/objects which move with the frontline, as result the "Tmod Skin system" have some drawbacks, but in general it work very good and will be very useful.

The drawback is that the game play related damage model of the target/object dont change. So it wouldnt be good to replace the skin of a bunch of trees with an lets say single tank.
That's possible, but the hitbubble size and damage values wont fit to the Tank(or the other way around).

But we can give cars, parked planes, farms etc a frontline related skin and this skins move with the frontline, so always the right parked planes can be on the bases etc.

Additionally we can replace for example single trees with tanks and normal farms with damaged farms, normal Buildings with damaged buildings with a cannon placed inside etc, if they are within the battle area(1 mile distance to the frontline).
If the frontline is for example in the Mediterranean, the trees in Africa can be palms, while the trees in Italy can be Oaks or what ever.
So also static targets, like battle ships or carriers could change their skins with the frontline(like ships in the harbor of Dunkirk for example).

With the release ground vehicles already will use this system, since we don't needed a "Sherman" and "Panther" anymore, we now have a "Light Tank" and from 1944 onward a "Heavy Tank".
We also have civil people everywhere(like default) and axis/allied soldiers in the battle area.
 

I'm using the TMOD switching to add different flags to airfields and infantry positions. When the front line moves past a target position the flag changes from Japanese to American, British or Australian.

It also happens with the flags on the ships.

Yep, Airfield buildings even could get covered with different colourd camoflage net`s, oil barrels and flak/AAA cannons could look different and even the flowers in the little garden of the officer can switch with the frontline.

AAA / Flak
From Knegel (posted 9-09-2008)
The values I did implement ONLY influence the medium and heavy flak and have for sure absolute nothing to do with the light flak. The light flak(20mm´s) is exact the same like in default 1.28!! The light flak aiming routine is absolute separated from the med/heavy flak aiming routine.
The rof decrease with increasing number!! The rof value is a timer value, as higher the value as lower the ROF. With each gameloop the timer count one backward to zero, the Flak only shoot, if the value is zero.
2. The two Flak values have nothing to do with the light flak (AAA).

AAA Tracers
From Knegel (posted 9-11-2008)
the tracers are not always the same, there is a random factor regarding them. As more guns shoot as more differences you will see. All AAA´s at one point get interpreted as one gun, as result the tracers vary sometimes a bit, while the bullets are always the same.

Another factor might be used sprites and tracers elsewhere in the gameetc. We have a limit regarding this and if there are many AAA´s shooting and many planes at same time, we might run into this limit, same like 20 shooting AAA´s not always will show tracers.

The tracer routine will show one tracer all 3 - 6 rounds, depending to how many guns shoot and the random factor. It even might be that one gun shot with 1 tracer every 3rd round, while the other gun shoot with one tracer every 9th round.

We can see this even on the plane guns, sometimes we have a bigger delay on one gun than on the other guns.
This is so cause the default tracer routine was written to give every bullet a tracer, what did result in the well known laser like tracerline of the default game. Now we did adjust this routine to display roundabout every 4th round, but we wasnt able to write a absolut new routine.

AAA ROF
From Knegel (posted 9-11-2008)
There is no high firing rate at close distance, i did explain before why the rate of tracers is not always exact the same. There is no bypass and the rof of the gun is always the same.

If the gun shoot or not is related to an cloud layer, while the tracers are related to the moving bullet. "my" routine is only a counter, which include a small randomizing factor. This counter count the moving bullets, that goes away from an object. One object can be a plane, a homebase, a destroyer, a factory, a radar station etc. Unfortunately the tracers are not created in relation to each gun, though as long as every bullet wear a tracer, like in default EAW, this dont matter. Since the tracers get created in relation to an complete object there can be different in the number and frequencies of tracers, depending on the number of shooting guns. Initially i simply did count the moving bullets and after every third bullet, a tracer did show up. This did work for most planes very good, but depending to the rof and number of guns, a resonance could happen. In this case one or more guns didnt show any tracers, while the others had a higher tracer frequency. So i did implement a random factor, so no resonace could happen, but as result the rate of tracers sometimes vary a bit. In worst case the rate of tracer is one tracer every 3nd bullet or every 9th bullet, if only one gun shoot its around every 4th bullet.
For now i wasnt able to change the code, so that the tracers show up in relation to every guns rate of fire, instead to the complete objects rate of fire. While gaming this normally don't matter, its one more not constant factor that make EAW so vital.

Multi Skin File System
From Col. Gibbon (posted 11-14-2008)

This is just a duplicate post of information on the Multi Skin file system, in case you never saw it on Frugals.

Hi Guys.

Iron Mike mentioned he wanted information on the fixed file system for Multi Skin models. So, here goes, and I hope everyone will understand the logic behind the file system Allen and I written into the exe.

3DZ Files:

The default 3dz names remain for the leaders position. That is the P****F.3dz, and if that model is the only one loaded, you will see just the first model replicated in all the squad positions, as in the default game.

For the first wingman you have rename the 3dz P****01F.3dz. For the second wingman P****02.3DZ, and so on up to P****11F.3dz for a normal max squad, and to P****15.3DZ, for extra squads option.

For HR models, you do exactly the same, but you have to rename all the 3dz's for the main model [A, B, C, E, F, G, P] , and I'm adding support for the P****M.3dz, distance model, and P****U.3dz, cockpit wing view, but not for the internal cockpit files, as I see no need for these to be multi skinned.

Internal 3DZ Texture Links:

Once again, for the default slot there is no change P****TEX.PCX/TPC links to P****TRA.PCX/TPC.

For the first wingman, the texture link is P****01TX.PCX/TPC links to P****01TRA.PCX/TPC, and as for the 3dz's the texture has a matching number up to 12 or 15, as before.

For HR models all the files needed have to be changed accordingly:
A.3DZ = P****01AX.PCX/TPC
B.3DZ = P****01BX.PCX/TPC
C.3DZ = P****01CX.PCX/TPC
E.3DZ = P****01EX.PCX/TPC
F.3DZ = P****01TX.PCX/TPC Links to P****01TRA.PCX/TPC
G.3DZ = P****01GX.PCX/TPC
P.3DZ = P****01TX.PCX/TPC
M.3DZ = P****01MX.PCX/TPC Links to P****01MRA.PCX/TPC
U.3DZ = P****01UX.PCX/TPC Links to P****01TRA.PCX/TPC

When these changes are made you will see in the new exe differently painted aircraft in as many positions as you like.

I'm hoping to get together a test version, of the multi skin exe, based on the1.28exe in time for the birthday of EAW.

It will take a bit longer for skin sets to be made, but I'm sure our skinners will love to do a squad, once the 3dz sets are made.

Not likely to make it in this release 1.28a:
From Wudpecker (posted 12-13-2008)

---There is an engine start smoke/wet start 'fiery flames' routine and propeller dust held over from the l.28 release.
A very nice ripple start along the exhausts has been added with Britt44's help.
But it continues to give problems with wind direction.

---An update of the "Cool Cam" (F-12) battle overview may be available to provide more action and fewer tedious fly-by's. But it also has a bug. (I think. The bug is on runway take-offs where you can drop the camera below ground level and lose the planes. Plus the usual glitches on playing long games, of course)

Weapons.Dat Information
From Knegel (posted 12-25-2008)

for now we still did use the weaponsd.dat following the information's from the old EAW Notes(Charles Gunst, Paulo Morais).

Now with the code it got clear that some infos simply was wrong.

Here are the right infos:

This data in WEAPONS.DAT is interpreted, mostly by Paulo(now by the source code), as:
Byte
1-2
1=Weapons code
2=Type (00=none, 01=bomb, 02=rocket, 04=fuel tank)

3-4 Code to image of weapon on rack and after firing/dropping (code numbers are from the ORDxx.3DZ files listed on page 6 e.g. 06=250 kg bomb, 1a (= 26d) = 45 gal tank) ffff = nil image

5-6
5=Negative quantity multiplier (e.g. 0c for 500 lb bomb,change to o2 to increase sqn stockpile)
6=Initial relative forward speed (You can make bombs or tanks behave as rockets)

7-8 (This both was used as one value called "impact Damge")
7= acceleration(horizontal variation)
8= Explosition size(graphic).

9-10
2 bytes (int) (only for rockets) time length of rocket motor exhaust

11-12
2 bytes (int) (only for German rockets), self destruct time/distance – all others ffff

13-14 2 bytes (int) is Blast Radius.(former Blast damage)
15-16 2 bytes (int) is Damage.(former Null)
17-18 2 bytes (int) is Penetration. (former "Flight performance penalty")
19-20 2 bytes (int) Empty weight (lbs)
21-22 2 bytes (int) Full Fuel weight (lbs), only for drop tanks.
23-24 2 bytes (int) is Handle(what ever that is, former NULL)

the 17-18 2 bytes (int) is Penetration. (former "Flight performance penalty") is the armor piercing factor, it stands in a tight correlation to the tmod table.

In the Tmod table we can give the targets a armor value, only if penetration value is bigger than the armor value, the weapon can hurt the target.

So we need to adjust the weapons to the targets and the other way around, to get a realistic relation.

For now our knowledge regarding the weapon damage was only bomb blast related, but instead of the bombblast power, we only did adjust the bomb blast radius.

The weight value of the bomb do exact what it say. Once i did try that. I did reduce the plane weight by 1000kg and did add a bomb with 1000kg(internal), redulting in exact the same flight behavior (time to climb).
Also the speed get influenced but Bombs don't made a plane much slower, at least not as much as someone would expect, but the negative influence to the critical mach is missing, same like the structural limit don't seems to get influenced in the way it should be.

When i make a escort mission with a US plane, sometimes i wonder how good the AI´s perform, until i realize that i forgot to drop my tanks.

To split the weapons.dat is still out of my range

just had a look and the drag only got influenced over the increased AoA due to the increased weight, of course this only count while a level flight.

This value:
5=Negative quantity multiplier (e.g. 0c for 500 lb bomb,change to o2 to increase sqn stockpile)

... is actually called "dragcount" in the code and we also have a drag count for the bomb mount, but although a part of the code is written, it never found its way into the FM calculation, bur the weapondata->dragcount got raped and used as a campaign value(stock pile multiplyer).
Why that is so is a miracle for me, cause according to the code, the influence to the campaign gameplay is very smal.

Now i rewrote the code, so the dragcount have nothing to do with the campaign setup, but it now influence the FM like it should.

So now even a empty droptank remain a handycap, while before it almost dont had weight and so it dont cause anything.

The influence can get adjusted for every weapon and mount and only external stored weapons/mounts cause a influence(this part of the code already was there).

So now we can have a real clean FW190A4(546km/h sealevel) and the bomb loaded version, where the bomb cause drag, but also the bomb rack, so even after dropping the bomb, the FW190A4 wouldnt be as fast as the clean version.

Same of course we can adjust for all palnes.

we lose backward compatibility if we split the weapons.dat, so its a no go for now.
If we split it, we need to do it in a big task, so that every plane slot get its own weapons.dat. Then even the mounts can stay together with the weapons.

The old mount informations are still ok, so you can use the current Wedit to adjust them to your need.

But you 1st need my latest test exe to take advantage(its not released for now, will be soon).

24 Bit Colored Skins and Terrain
From Col Gibbon (posted 1-02-2009)

Simply put, our old skins were only 8 bit [256 colours] skins. In truth the 256 colours were even less than 256, more like 150 colours. Only the terrains used full 8 bit colour, which is interpreted into 16 bit, which is just as well, or EAW would be as dead as a Dodo.

With the jump to 24 bit, we go from using 256, to 16 million colours.

The difference you will see, is a much cleaner, more refined skin, and any colour can be used. Old TNT skins can be used again by simply converting them to 24 bit BMP's.

(Sydbod) Maybe a simple explanation may be in order.

There are basically only 3 color modes in use.

8Bit, that allows for a choice of 256 colors of any color. Each color is basically a 24Bit color(16777216 different color shades), but the user can only choose between a selection of 256 of these 24Bit colors for the one texture.

16Bit, that allows for a choice of 65536 unique colors, and all of these colors can be used at the same time in a texture.

24Bit, that allows for a choice of 16777216 unique colors, and all of these colors can be used at the same time in a texture,

32Bit color is just the 24Bit color with the extra 8Bits defining how transparent that color will be to the background. It does not provide any extra colors compared to the 24Bit color.

NOW to your question:
If a limited number of colors are required in painting an aircraft, then there could well be NO difference in color between an 8Bit painted aircraft, and a 24Bit colored aircraft.

If more unique colors are required to paint an aircraft than as limit of 256 unique colors, then the 24Bit color system will allow a painter to do just that, rather than reuse a color that is now what he wants.

One has to remember that many of the colors in the 8Bit color mode are already used up in specialised painting areas of an aircraft, so one probably only has a choice of mixing in maybe 100 odd unique colors for their skins. If these 100 odd unique colors have to be the same for any aircraft that can be put in the game, then all those unique shades and colors can not be represented properly for 100ds of different skins in just a set of around 100 unique 24Bit colors.

All of a sudden a full 24Bit color system becomes important.

If one wants to have MANY DIFFERENT colored and type of aircraft in the air at the one time, then an 8Bit color system can not store enough different colors in it to be able to paint all the required different colors in the game. This is why many of the aircraft in EAW (when 8Bit color is used) have textures that are not quiet the correct color or shade.

Multiplayer Sea Convoy Targets
From MrJelly (posted 1-06-2009)

In the forthcoming 1.28a we have refined the target selection routine for online games.
If the host selects an interdiction, and the target is a sea convoy then when the target list is refreshed all the targets which have a sea convoy associated with them are displayed in black text.
What is even better is the use of an external "Convoys.dat" file in the root folder. We have one for ETO-, and some others for different scenarios:
This makes target selection for much simpler, and for the torpedo runs it will be particularly useful!
Please note that the target list only shows 25 targets at a time, but clicking the down button would show the next 25 (from 26 to 50) and so on.
What we do sometimes is to set the enemy primary and secondary to "Empty". There is enough fire from the ships to worry about on the slow torpedo release approach, so not having to worry about enemy fighters makes life a little easier. Of course in a game with many players, some could be escorting and others intercepting as usual.

In some of the new addons which are being written the makers are including a "Convoys.dat" file. They have an editor which makes this file. If a "Convoys.dat" file is present the tables in the exe are not used- unless someone selects a target which is not listed in the "Convoys.dat" file.

When 1.28 was released there was no longer any connection between the presence of shipyards or railway stations at targets for the selection of the interdiction type, and it could already use a "Convoys.dat" file. Therfore there is no longer any need to modify the table in the exe to match a Mediterranean, Russian, or South East Asian scenario
"Convoys.dat" files can easily be made for pre- 1.28 addons, so that they can be used with the 1.28 and later exes. The files are limited to a maximum 255 targets

The essence of this thread is that we have now added a routine which makes targets with associated sea convoys easily identifiable to the host of a multiplayer game.
However, a list of targets is also automatically saved as a text file when the "Convoys.dat" file is generated by the editor, so this text file could be referenced by a pilot for target selection both online and off.

This is the ETO one:

La Pallice
St. Nazaire
Vannes
Lorient
Brest
Morlaix
Cherbourg
Caen
Cormeilles
Dieppe
Dunkirk
Ostend
Flushing
Rotterdam
Ijmuiden
Amsterdam
Emden
Jever
Wilhelmshaven
Bremerhaven
Cuxhaven
Ostermoor
Kiel
Lubeck
Rostock
Stralsund
Peenumunde
Hurn
Ventnor
Pevensey
Newchurch
Foreness
Eastchurch
Leiston
Horsham St. Faith

Note that this list contains several British targets which are not in the default table in the 1.2/1.28 exe. A German interdiction to Ventnor is possible.

I made one for DAW, and another for Midway so that I could test the convoy composition routines which the 1.28a also contains. In these there are files containing MGO lists which set the types of MGOs in the sea convoys. Once again if these files are present in the root folder they are used in preference to the hard coded stuff in the exe.

1.28a New Carrier Abilities and the New Stall/Spin Codes
MrJelly (posted 3-19-2009)

Testing of the 1.28a exe is nearing completion.
Ralf has re-written some of the AI routines for carrier landings, and for realistic stall spin behaviour, so Iron Mike and I tried them out online this afternoon.
The mission was an escort in 190As of Stukas from Axis Carrier 1 to attack Allied Carrier 1 with Spit 1As in opposition. The mismatch of planes was deliberate because we wanted the bombers to take off successfully from behind us on the carrier, bomb the target, get back to the carrier and land.
We also wanted to test the stall/spin routine for the 190A, and the new flight models Ralf has written
We got to the target first, and waited for the bombers:
A Stuka had a near miss:
Heading home:
IM and I both made disgusting landings, but here comes the first of our Stukas:
And here comes the last of them:
Seven safely on the deck. The first one collided with IM's half wrecked plane. Both went over the edge of the deck and were destroyed
Mission results. IM and I both had some low level stalls from which we did not recover, but there's enough evidence to suggest that the new stall/spin routines will be much better, especially when we have adapted our flying skills. The best thing was that the AI takeoff and landing routines worked well- I'll say no more about the human landing efforts LOL!

(Iron Mike) Landing on a carrier is much harder than it looks. Take off is a differnt matter entirely, I managed to shoot down 2 Spits and fall off into a flat spin, over recovered and slipped off in the other direction.

One thing though, when you land taxi up to the end of the flight deck or else the AI will try to taxi through you.

Multiplayer Choices, 2nd Base
MrJelly (posted 3-20-2009)

If I have got the code right (so that the values of some new variables that have been added are passed from the host to the other players) we now have some very interesting multiplayer choices.
We have secondary bases
I will be flying from Allied Carrier 01, and the Stukas from Axis Carrier 01:
The enemy secondary 110Cs will fly from Marquise, and the friendly secondary hurricanes from Manston:
The Stukas on their carrier:
The 110Cs at Marquise:
Me and the Spits on our carrier:
The Hurricanes at Manston:
What this means is that all sorts of combinations will be possible, especially in a Pacific scenario- Corsairs from one carrier escorting Avengers from another, or B17s from a land base.
I'm not really interested in developing a carrier based scenario for ETO, but the one we use just helps us to get the routines in the new exe working correctly. It will be up to the modders to use these new capabilities.
 

Although the test are from the ETO scenario their importance is that they demonstrate that the eaw 1.28a exe under development can handle carriers. It is up to the modders to produce scenarios which will utilize the capabilities that we are including. A quick hack of the ETO targets/tardata.dat and associated files was made to test the routines, and nobody is really suggesting an ETO carrier based scenario. However, I would add that my late brother flew with the FAA from the Indefatigable whilst it was escorting convoys to Russia. Their operations included attacks on the Tirpitz to keep it busy and effectively out of their way.

Adjustable Head Position
From Knegel (posted 3-28-2009)

iam very excited, cause EAW will get adjustable head positions for snapviews and for now a rather small offset for "mouse view"(padlock).

For now EAW´s virtual cockpit view always had a centered static head position.
As result we wasn't able to look around canopy frames and the rear plating.
As result in most cockpits it was rather difficult to play with cockpit enabled, but without padlock, cause we couldnt always follow the target, cause it disappeared behind a frame or something else, where a real pilot by easy could look around to keep sight.

EAW1.28a will have 30 files, one for each plane, where offsets for each snap view direction can get stored.

We will implement 30 files as default, additionally every add-on maker or user can create own files to fit to the currently used cockpit and preferences (A Yak7 need a other head offset than a Spitfire, to achieve the best sight).

While working on this i got aware how bad some EAW cockpits are (also some default one). With this new possibility it realy make sense to create a complete Tail, cause we now can look around the rear plating.

For now the offset views particular cant show the full potential, cause most cockpits miss needed areas (i dont want to look around the plating and see empty space), but with the possibilities we can get the best out of the current cockpits.

A to big rear plating?? No problem, simply shift the head upward or sideward. A very big canopy frame right in front?? No problem move the head backward and the frame will get much smaller.


The 109 cockpit glass is so close to the head, only by turning the head and moving it a little toward the glass, your eye´s get very close to it, and from this position you can look through the free space between glass and plating. You can almost look alongside the whole rear fuselage.
The strait rear up view was more of a problem.

this 'adjustment' for now only will work with the snapviews, not in padlock mode and mouse view.
So only for the 19 static view directions (front, front up, front left, front right, instrument view, left, shoulder left, left up, shoulder left up, right, shoulder right, shoulder up, shoulder right up, rear, rear right up, rear left up, vertical up). For the floating view we only can use a small offset.
With better cockpits this offset can get increased.

(MrJelly) The (x,y,z) head position offsets for all of the snapviews are in a file, and there is a file for every slot.
They are editable using a utility, so a modder can experiment when a new cockpit has been made....

(Knegel) currently we cant use this feature to its full extends, cause the cockpits are not all complete.

You can test the different yourself, by using the Me410 and Typhoon. The default rearview in both planes is horrible (very big plating, although already reduced in the typhoon).

with "snap view forward"; If you have the snap views on the joystick POV (head switch), you can push the button forward, if a target disappear behind one of the frames, then it will appear again. You get the impression the pilot moved his head rearward to avoid the frames.

btw, 'stock' EAW always had this feature for some of the 2d cockpits. When i once switched from 640x480 to 800x600 and the 2d cockpits stopped to work, i was very disappointed about the playability of the Virtual cockpits. I always loved the moving head positions in the 2d cockpits to achieve the best sight. Some planes turned to be a real "no go", like the 109G/K, Typhoon, Hurricane and P47C, until the deflection cockpits got created, cause the shoulder and shoulder up view was not available cause a by far to big plating or better sayed cause the static view position.

We currently need to use a external tool to adjust the views, then we need to start the game to see the outcome. Not very comfortable, but normally this only need to be done once for every cockpit and the pre adjusted positions are already not bad.

Frontline TMODS
From knegel (posted 4-16-2009)

Oh yes, not to forget the "frontline related target/object skins" which move with the Frontline.

Depending to the relative position to the frontline, every Target/object that use Tmod_**`.3dz´s can have up to three additional skins.

1. A Tmod skin which replace the default Tmod skin of the same target/object on the axis side of the frontline(Axis Tmod skin).
2. A Tmod skin which replace the default and the Axis Tmod skin of the same target/object, if the target/object is within a range of 1 Mile to the frontline(battle area Tmod skin).
3. A Tmod skin which replace all other Tmod skins of the same target/object, within 1 mile range on the axis side of the frontline(Axis battleline Tmod skins) .

Unfortunatelly it was not possible for us to implement complete axis and allied targets/objects which move with the frontline, as result the "Tmod Skin system" have some drawbacks, but in general it work very good and will be very usefull.

The drawback is that the gameplay related damage model of the target/object dont change. So it wouldnt be good to replace the skin of a bunch of trees with an lets say single tank.
Thats possible, but the hitbubble size and damage values wont fit to the Tank(or the other way around).

But we can give cars, parked planes, farms etc a frontline related skin and this skins move with the frontline, so always the right parked planes can be on the bases etc.

Additionally we can replace for example single trees with tanks and normal farms with damaged farms, normal Buildings with damaged buildings with a cannon placed inside etc, if they are within the battle area(1 mile distance to the frontline).
If the frontline is for example in the Mediterranean, the trees in Africa can be palms, while the trees in Italy can be Oaks or what ever.
So also static targets, like battle ships or carriers could change their skins with the frontline(like ships in the harbour of Duenkirk for example).

With the release ground vehicles already will use this system, since we dont needed a "Sherman" and "Panther" anymore, we now have a "Light Tank" and from 1944 onward a "Heavy Tank".
We also have civil people everywhere(like default) and axis/allied soldiers in the battle area.

(Rotton50) I'm using the TMOD switching to add different flags to airfields and infantry positions. When the front line moves past a target position the flag changes from Japanese to American, British or Australian.

It also happens with the flags on the ships.

(Knegel) Yep, Airfield buildings even could get covered with different colourd camoflage net`s, oil barrels and flak/AAA cannons could look different and even the flowers in the little garden of the officer can switch with the frontline.

[END v1.28a]

v1.28aV47a The Code Group - Beta Change Log (posted 4-26-2009)

This exe based on EAW1.28!! Knegel
(To see the changes that actually made it into the new version of the game, see the v1.28a section above for description.)

You need a clean EAW1.28 installation to install v47a, then you can run this exe...

Just to give you an idea of how much work was done, how many test exes were produced, and tested, here is an edited version of Ralf's "Readme" for EAW1.28a KnegelV47a. This "Readme" is a log of the development since the release of 1.28. In this time over 50 test exes have been released for testing. Some have had minor changes, but others have had major capability upgrades to include significant features such as:

· Multiskins,
· Fully functional aircraft carriers with 60’ high decks, acting as airbases on water tiles
· Torpedoes
· Additional tiles
· Frontline groundbattles
· Snapviews with adjusted head positions
· Encounter groups
· New runway types
· Convoy structures settable in external files
· Primary and secondary bases in multiplayer
· Sea convoy targets identified in multiplayer
· Autoclimb
· Keyboard language, and several new eaw.ini entries
· Multiplayer time delay fixes to allow users who cannot use 1.2 or 1.28 to fly online, to enjoy multiplayer sessions again.

Readme Change Log for upto EAW1.28aKnegelV47a.
Greetings,
Knegel

Changes sinceV47;
A action code for a Tail Hook has been implemented (code 156/1/0).

Changes sinceV46;
The gyro has been reset to the V44 stage.
The dive brakes now only work manually, only after a weapon is toggled.
They will not retake alone anymore, but information is displayed, when you extend or retract them.
With dive brakes extended, the plane’s drag increases and a little stick forward movement gets applied.

Changes sinceV45;
The AI´s shoot better now, if under G forces.
The AI defensive maneuver routine has been rewritten (many fighter planes only did swing right/left/right/left).
Dive flaps and a related action code has been introduced.
The gyro gunsight has been adjusted.

Changes sinceV44;
A "CTD" bug regarding targets located in water has been solved. While an interdiction, it was possible that something other than ships as target could get selected, this could cause a CTD.
With BirdSeed = 0 (EAW.ini) no birds will spawn anymore.
The "People Spawnpoint targets" also should work now if the target is in the EAW_TTD.Dat (not only tile targets).
The "computed gunsight" has been adjusted and activated. It is triggered by an planes.dat value and additionally the user can disable it with an EAW.ini value,
if he does not like it. The computed gunsight only works in "gunsight mode"(1st step zoom). It gets adjusted to currently toggled target (icon), otherwise to the closest target. The gunsight adjusts the reticle in relation to the player’s and the target’s G-force. So it will not work as well if your plane has a different bank angle than your opponent. Otherwise I got surprising good results.
The gunsight currently has been activated for the P51D, P47D, Me262A, Bf109K,
FW190D9, Spit14 and Tempest V.

Changes sinceV43;
A bug in the single mission selection has been fixed.
The encounter groups will not appear as long time acceleration is active (this could cause a CTD)
Time acceleration now goes in smaller steps upward. 2,4,8,12,16,20,24,28,32,36 to max 40, this decreases the probability to crash by accident.
The online mission selection screen has been adjusted a little (mayhem will not show "respawn" and "No Ai´s" anymore.
The online weather setup is now an EAW.ini setting, which gets stored after the mission, if you are hosting (like the other values).

Changes sinceV42;

German single mission Intercepts and allied escorts are now possible in 1940, if an allied 1940-bomber is present (not by default).


The frontline related Tmods had to be given another naming norm. Although the system did work with files in the EAW root,
We cannot pack files with to long names into the CDF´s.
This is the new naming norm for the frontline related Tmod****.3dz´s:

Allied Tmod graphic file names, used if close to the front (allied battle area target):
TMOF**_H.3DZ
TMOF**_D.3DZ
TMOF**_S.3DZ
TMoF**_L.3DZ

Axis Tmod graphic file names:
TMOG**_H.3DZ
TMOG**_D.3DZ
TMOG**_S.3DZ
TMOG**_L.3DZ

Axis Tmod graphic file names, used if close to the front (axis battle area target):
TMGF**_H.3DZ
TMGF**_D.3DZ
TMGF**_S.3DZ
TMGF**_L.3DZ

So now we can distinguish between

1. Tmgf****.3dz = axis battle area target
2. Tmof****.3dz = if no "axis battle area target" is available, this get used on both sides of the frontline, otherwise its the "allied battle area target".
3. Tmog****.3dz = graphic for all targets on the axis side of the frontline, if no "battle area target" is available.
4. Tmod****.3dz = graphic for all targets, if no other kind of Tmod 3dz is present. For sure this represent the allied targets outside the battle area.

Changes sinceV41a;
Some AI related routines have been adjusted (dive bomb, torpedo).
A carrier has been implemented into the exe Tmod table(Tmod74).

Changes sinceV41;
The take off placing routine has been adjusted, to avoid plane crashes, if different squads take off from the same base.
The landing routine has been adjusted slightly.

Changes sinceV40d;
The landing routine has been adjusted.
The view offset routine has been adjusted.
The encounter group routines have been disabled when we skip to next encounter (alt N).
Friendly grounstarted encounter groups are possible now.
Autoclimb has been adjusted.

Changes sinceV40c;
The Autoclimb(online) routine has been adjusted.
The Autoclimb is available offline as well, by selecting "Autopilot" two times.
A engine "rated altitude" has been introduced. Above this altitude, the engines almost never overheat.
The "scramble encounter groups" now only will appear if we fly below 12000 feet.

Changes sinceV40b;
A small online mission selection related bug has been fixed.
“Encounter groups” has been disabled for multiplayers.

Changes sinceV40;
A small cockpit related bug has been solved (Artificial Horizon did not work).

Changes sinceV39;
30 external vc_offset files have been introduced. This files need to be in the savedata folder. Additionally EAW first looks for the same files in the EAW root.

Changes sinceV38:
Two bad bugs solved (one caused a CTD, the other spawned P38H´s below the ground surface)
The snap view offsets have been adjusted to fit better to the current cockpits.
Two offset values are adjustable by the *.flt´s.
One adjusts the default Z offset, so the cockpit height can get adjusted, fitting to the gunsight/reticle.
The other implement a Y offset, if you push snapview front, the pilot will move rearward. This gives better sight to the gauges and around the frames.
We have 4 steps zoom now. If zoomed in, we have also a Y offset, so although zoomed in, the pilot does not sit that close to the gunsight. This is a perfect attack view.

Changes sinceV37:
The stall routine has been adjusted (needs online tests to see if the bugs are gone)
“Encounter groups” has been activated.
Two new EAW.ini entries will get created. They influence the encounter probability, related to the radar.
0 = no encounter
512 = max probability
Airbase encounter groups are not related to the radar, but to the flight height.
The view system always had the possibility to shift the view position.
This never used feature now got activated for snapviews.
With other view systems I encountered too many problems.
Some cockpits need to get updated!!
I can imagine external files, one for each plane slot, so every addon maker or user can adjust the settings, fitting to his cockpit (just like in Aces High).

Changes sinceV36:
A online related carrier bug has been fixed.
The stall routine has been adjusted a little.
A new adjusted flight model set has been released with this exe (F Beta01_Fix03).

Changes sinceV35:
The touch down point has been adjusted.
The Stall/spin routine has been rewritten.
The "carrier squad start year" now display the year.dat related years.

Changes sinceV34:
The new landing routine has been adjusted (now empty bombers can land as well).

Changes sinceV33:
The year.dat routine has been adjusted.
The landing routine has been rewritten to make all planes landing more exact (needed for carriers).
The take off spawn position on carriers have been adjusted (more tight positions, so up to 16 twin engined aircraft can be placed).

Changes sinceV32:
The Ai combat behaviour has been adjusted.
The Carriers got a squary flight deck.
Torpedos now impact on carriers.

Changes sinceV31:
The MAX_TEXTURES has been increased to 1024.
Carrier runways are lifted up (not flat on the ground anymore).
There wont be craters around and on the carriers anymore.
A carrier does not count as "land" anymore.
The landing routine has been adjusted. The carrier takeoff cheat has been adjusted.
The shadows have been adjusted to show up on the carrier, not below it.
The rooster tail, caused by planes flying low over water, has been re-enabled close to carriers.
Special Bullet impacts on carriers have been introduced (with ricochets).

Changes sinceV30:
The Carrier landing and take off routine has been adjusted.
The "non water area" around an airbase (carrier) has been adjusted.
Squads can have 16 planes while an interdict and bomb mission.

Changes sinceBeta01V29:
1. You can hit Craters with your plane.
2. Homebases are possible on water tiles.
3. The carrier landing routine has been adjusted.

Changes sinceV28:
1. The package include the packed CDF´s, based on the current stage of development.
2. I had to rename the gunsight**.spt files and had to adjust the related code, because we have a file-name-length-limit, i wasnt able to pack the long named files. So now the gunsight file names are "gsight00.spt" to "gsight29.spt", the default "gunsight.spt" will not work anymore in this setup and got removed from the CDF.
3. The loadout.dat has been adjusted.
4. The exe still included a "tailgunner cheat", where the tailgun bullet power was cut down. In V26 I disabled it to see how effective the tailgunners are and they are very effective without this cheat. Since they are too effective now, the tailgunner rounds per sec has been reduced.
This will save computing power!!
Since every bullet of a tailgunner show a tracer, the reduction still looks ok.
5. The corrected Mossie 3dz has been included. Max188´s people have been included as Allied soldiers. Pobs PanzerkampfwagenIII has been included as German "Light tank".

Changes sinceV27:
A external "Year.dat" got introduced. The "Year.dat"- entries get displayed on the briefing screens (black background) and in the logbook.
Other years need to get changed with help of the dnames.str and sq****,dat´s.

Changes sinceV26:
The possibility to add 5 additional tiles has been introduced.
The max number of runways has been increased to 32
The "EAW.ini debug patch entry" can point the exe to an external directory.
If a new EAW.ini is created, the "EAW.ini debug patch entry" will be missing, still no CD is needed.
The 7217 error fix EAW.ini entry has been removed, because tests did show that the slow downs are not related to the fix.

Tested Latest Beta 1.28av25
RAF_Dumoulin / Gus (posted 2-05-2009)

Just tested the last beta 1.28a25 ...
And as my Ti4600 was drawing a lot of stuff in D3D .. I not suffered of any noticeable slowdown.. (referring to a so called slow down bug in the code....)

Changes sinceV25:
For glide mode the day pallet get used again, to solve the "pink colour" problem.
The bullet weight routine work now as intended.
The 7217 error fix got a EAW.ini entry, so it can get disabled (although I doubt it, maybe this can solve problems).
The F WeaponRelease_07 folder includes a planes.dat with decreased render distances to increase the fps and the B17/24 pilot position was adjusted to show the engine damage smoke at the right position.

Changes sinceV24:
Two more person sprites has been added. (person2.spt, person3.spt)
Both currently only get used close to the frontline (1 mile), person2spt = allied(former alien), person3.spt = German.

Ground battle action close to the frontline has been added.
It can get adjusted in the EAW.ini
GroundBattle = 0 is No ground battle.
GroundBattle = 9 is max action.

Changes sinceV23a:
Up to four different "Tmod skins" can be used for every Tmod.
Axis Tmod graphic file names:
TMOD**G_H.3DZ
TMOD**G_D.3DZ
TMOD**G_S.3DZ
TMOD**G_L.3DZ

Allied Tmod graphic file names, used if close to the front:
TMOD**F_H.3DZ
TMOD**F_D.3DZ
TMOD**F_S.3DZ
TMOD**F_L.3DZ

Axis Tmod graphic file names, used if close to the front:
TMOD**GF_H.3DZ
TMOD**GF_D.3DZ
TMOD**GF_S.3DZ
TMOD**GF_L.3DZ

If no file with the above name is available, the default files will be used.
So the default files represent the allied skins and main skin at same time.

The bail out sequence has been changed.
If we land and bail out, we will see the pilot running away and we does not count as dead.

The Alt-J-online (jump to other plane) system has been removed because of many complications. Due to lost packages, the game sometimes got into trouble while setting the right player to the right plane(after respawn).

The included "Tmod" files need to be used with this exe (later they will find place in the CDF´s).

The "OldDamage" bullet routine got adjusted.

Changes sinceV23:
The gunpods now can get selected while online gaming (if the plane has them).

Changes sinceV22a:
A new EAW.ini entry has been introduced, called "OldDamage=0".
By changing it to =1 , a more EAW1.2 compatible bullet damage calculation is used and the default EAW1.2 engine overheat system.
Also the EAW1.28a bullet damage calculation routine has been adjusted, with my upgraded programming skill, it got clear to me that the old routine in particular did not work, and all over it was a slow calculation. This also needs to get tested and probably fine tuned!
In this version I changed the net code, in the hope to solve some old problems when playing mayhem games.
Although I did not encounter problems in my LAN, tests are needed, cause in my LAN I cannot reproduce the strange results we sometimes get online.
It is recommended to use F WeaponRelease_06 with this exe. Now the 109G gunpods work.

Changes sinceV22:
The "jump to next plane" routine, during online gaming has been fixed (it was wrong by default).
The bomber cruise altitude, during ground started missions has been lowered (now 2500-3500m)


 

Changes sinceV21b:
A bug in the escort routine has been fixed (Ai´s do not want to escort humans anymore)
The AAA has been made more accurate when flying toward it (not much better though).
A “flakdata.dat” file has been introduced.
Here we can adjust the following values:

LightAAA Calibre;
LightAAA Duration;
LightAAA Rate of Fire;
SmalAAA Calibre;
SmalAAA Duration;
SmalAAA Rate of Fire;

Changes sinceV21a:
The padlock by default has been disabled when the plane stalled, now it only will be disabled, when the plane spins.

Changes sinceV21:
A respawn problem (ditched planes in mayhem) hopefully has been fixed now.
The escorting Ai´s are by far more aggressive.

Changes sinceV20b:
Some more code links have been added (multi skin related, to cover Jan Tuma’s work).
The respawn problem is fixed now.
The mayhem kill count works like this:

Plane destroyed, and player killed work as usual.
Respawn after Plane landed without any impacts = no plane loss, no kill for anyone.
Respawn after plane landed with impacts = no plane loss, but 1 kill for the enemy.
Respawn after the plane got ditched, without any impacts = plane loss, no kill for anyone.
Respawn after the plane got ditched, with impacts = plane loss, 1 kill for the enemy.

Now the engine status (run or stopped) get transmitted, so now we can see if someone did shut down the engine and the strange propeller movement, after we got into a AI plane, should not happen anymore. :)

Changes sinceV20a:
Only online related!!
Another try to fix the online respawn problem.
The ingame chat has been made to handle 16 players.
The pre-briefing screen has been changed to be able to handle 16 players (player list).

Changes sinceV20:
Only online related!!
The respawn bug has been fixed.
The bail out routine has been disabled if the plane is below 30 feet alt!
Instead the player needs to use "alt j"(jump to next plane).
In a coop mission the player will jump into another Ai plane, if the brakes are enabled or if he has crash landed.
In a mayhem it is a bit different:

If a players plane lands without combat damages (out of ammo), the player will respawn right away into a new plane.
In this case the plane does not count as loss!!
After the plane has been ditched without combat damage, the player also will respawn right away, but the plane will count as loss.
After the plane lands or ditches with combat damages, the player will see an external view, then after a while he will respawn.
The plane counts as kill for someone and as loss.

"Auto climb" has been introduced for online gaming.
While online gaming the Autopilot does not work, so the "A" was free. If the player now pushes "A" the plane will climb with current course and "Autopilot enabled" will show up.

Changes sinceV19:
The take off routine has been adjusted. Planes will perform a more flat climb right after take off and they will then start to form up earlier.
The approach speeds for AIs, while attacking other planes, has been adjusted.
The "achieve speed" routine has been adjusted again, so the throttle will stay more constant.
The Torpedo routine has been adjusted:
1. Torpedo impacts show a big watersplash on the target.
2. Torpedoes also explode on just destroyed ships (ship graphic still there).
3. A human leader can lead the squad in a chosen direction, until the distance to target is smaller than 3.5 miles.
Its recommended to lead them to low altitude (300 FEET) and to command the different squad, one by one, to attack the convoy, to achieve a wider spreading.

Changes sinceV18:
The AI Torpedo attack routine has been fine tuned (FW190A will do it now)
Many AI routines have been adjusted, because of the former wrong calculation between IAS and TAS.
In particular the escort routine should work better now (it needs to get tested).

The "online join" bug has been fixed (need more testing).

The undercarriage will extend one more time after the hydraulics have been damaged. This will happen without sound!!
Then it will no longer retract!

Changes sinceV17:
The "achieve speed" routine has been rewritten. Now the planes cruise and max speed will match the related planes.dat entries.
Before (also in EAW1.2) the calculation did not work correctly, because the influence of the altitude on the speed was forgotten.
So now also the wingleveler works properly!

When using "IAS" as displayed speed, now the AIs speed will get displayed correctly.
Before (also in EAW1.2) the influence of the altitude to the speed found its way into the calculation of the displayed AI speed (HUD display) twice.

A bug in the ground object (MGO) routine has been fixed.
Now the turrets will work in all convoy ships.

A bug in the Tmod table has been fixed (German Transports were not marked as ships).

Now you can leave the plane selection screen with "Esc"(like all other screens).

The Online Sea convoy routine has been rewritten.
Now the targets to which a sea convoy is linked are marked black.
(Choose interdiction + ships, then click to the target, so the target list will appear)

The E 1.28a_KnegelV18 folder include two *mpf files, this are new homebase set-ups for 1944 (we have one more frontlines now!!)
So now we can use close bases (around Brussels) without additional files.

The online target selection routine has been rewritten.
Now also sweeps will have friendly targets by default.
This is so, cause before the enemy Ai´s often already did return to base, because they were often very early over the target.
Now they normally have the longer distance to reach the target area, as result we can intercept them.

Changes sinceV16:
A "KeyboardLanguge" EAW.ini entry has been introduced.
KeyboardLanguge=0 English
KeyboardLanguge=1 German
KeyboardLanguge=2 French
KeyboardLanguge=3 Spanish
KeyboardLanguge=4 Italian

Every plane can have ONE gunpod as option, selectable from the loadout screen.
Unfortunately we cannot add 30mm gunpods and 20mm gunpods as different option to one plane.
!!!Use "F WeaponRelease_04" with this exe!!!

Changes sinceV15:
The min torpedo drop height has been increased.
The flak has been adjusted considerably (please test, good ini settings for me are rof = 2, accuracy = 2).


 

Changes sinceV14:
Over Water the medium flak will shoot if the target is above 10 feet altitude.
The Transport ships now have MG´s as weapons, instead of 20mm cannons.
The Torpedos now have contrails.
The Year bug has been solved (in former test exe´s the year was displayed wrongly).
An internal, not droppable fuel tank was added to the weapons.dat.

Changes sinceV13:
A 2nd Torpedo has been introduced in the weapons.dat and EAW.exe. The Torpedoes use the last two weapon slots of the weapons.dat.
The Ju88A will carry a Torpedo while interdictions and Bombs while Bomb missions (two different Bomb loadouts online).
Since AI leaded squads will not do a interdiction, the Torpedo as default interdiction loadout is not a problem, because the player always can choose a other loadout option.
The hitbubble size and damage values of the land based ground vehicles (train/trucks) has been adjusted.

Changes sinceV12:
A bug regarding the gun ground attack routine has been fixed (planes rarely used guns while ground attacks).
The "Host Bug" has been fixed. :)
The default online mission now will be loaded at lobby start, when using GameRanger.

Changes sinceV11:
A bug regarding the divebomber attack routine has been fixed.
A bug regarding the torpedo routine has been fixed (Torpedos could be dropped from high altitude without being damaged).
In the related D/L zip some additional flight files are included, as example how to setup the loadout that it can be released in steps.
As you might see, when rockets are used, a hardpoint in the 3dz is missing, so this feature will not be available in the 1.28a FM set.
Bombs will work correctly.

Changes sinceV10:
The torpedo and dive bomb routine has been adjusted again. :)

The convoy bug has been fixed (Tony/Jel).

Changes sinceV09:
The torpedo and dive bomb routines have been adjusted.
AIs should hit the target better now (at least with bombs) and they choose different ground vehicles as target.
They even sometimes attack close random ground targets, during an interdiction.

Changes sinceV08:
A torpedo has been included,
An AI torpedo attack routine has been included.
The related test Weapons.dat and loadout.dat need to be used to get this working correctly.

Changes sinceV07:
The code wast compiled after a new d3d.dll etc got created, this might, or might not change things.
The new d3d.dll is necessary.

Changes sinceV06:
The Multiskincode has been fixed (wingview).
The flaps action code has been added.
The AAA is disabled in online mayhem games.
A bug regarding the loadout drop system has been fixed.
A bug regarding the group order in escort missions has been fixed (if there is a 2nd escorting group, it now will not return to base).

Changes sinceV05:
The multi skin system has been included.
The convoy system has been rewritten, to use external files

Changes sinceV04:
Carrier aircraft value is now triggered by a new carrier runway.
Planes can have "simple flaps"(planes.dat value, formerly used to trigger the "carrier landing").
Some planes, like all Spitfires, could not extend the flaps in steps, only full or nothing. By activating "Simple Flaps" this plane wont use flaps step #1 and #2.
FM: A strange "nose down" movement below 100 feet altitude (HUD turn red) has been disabled.
I do not know why the original programmers implemented this, but this was the reason for the extremely different flight behaviour when the HUD turns red.
Big bombers especially got into real trouble, now they land more easily
A new engine burn sequence got included.
The engine burn routine has been rewritten, engines can die now without fire, but they also can burn forever.
The pilot will die, if a single engined plane does not stop burning.
The plane ditching routine has been rewritten. Now propellers/engines will stop running, if the plane is very low (a few feet), and it does not matter if the engine is damaged or not.
Before the engine had to be completely destroyed to stop it, but for this to happen depended on the flight files and how hard the planes ditched.
Now an engine/propeller can stop working, although the engine itself does not even show smoke, and your fuselage does not even need to touch the ground.

Changes sinceV03:
Test exe V04 was a test sequence to include a groundstart respawn for online gaming (no success).


Changes sinceV02:
The EAW.ini has two new flak entries, one for accuracy, one for number of shots.

Changes since V01 (1.28aV02):
The rocket exhaust flame disappears when the engine stops running.


 

1.28aV01:

The "SMNation.str", so campaign makers can change the "Allied" and "Axis" in the single mission selection screen.

Mr.Jelly’s 7217 fix, his convoy formation bug fix.

Time acceleration up to 32x.

Some fixes regarding the online briefing:
1. While "Mayhem" is displayed, no AI planes will be displayed anymore.
2. While "Mayhem" is displayed, "starting point" "high altitude" and "low altitude" are displayed.
3. Respawn is possible now in a normal mission (not a mayhem), also when "no Ai´s" are activated, as long as the game starts in the air.


The rocket engine can be enabled in any slot.

[END v1.28av47a Change Log]

v1.28 The Code Group - release (June 23 2008 / October 2008)

The Code-Group is proud to release patch 1.28 and trusts online and offline players will enjoy the new possibilities it offers. CREDITS; This patch was made by the cooperative efforts of the EAW CodeGroup (Knegel, BPNZ, Pobs, Col. Gibbon, Mr.Jelly, Sydbod, Rotton50, Wuddy, Raf_Roy, ?), ably assisted by a dedicated bunch of testers. Thanks to everyone involved. We hope you enjoy it!

Note GOG Users:
This modified exe and game data is also used as a Base Build for the Retroism / GoG re-released EAWv1.28GOG game on 2-12-2021, which is no longer available since the roll-back to EAWv1.2GOG. (No part of this Code-Group type is in the re-re-released EAWv1.2GOG version on 3-27-2021). See my 'First Use' and 'Install Help Documents' to read more on the EAW-GOG releases.

INSTALLING EAW PATCH 1.28
EAW1.28patch.exe (48.4MB)
We recommend placing the patch installer into a clean EAW v1.2 main root directory and installing it from there.

These are the files added or replaced in the EAW v1.2 game folder.

\EAW128\

3D.CDF 			8,409,536 	6/18/2008 20:07
Cockpits.CDF 		33,473,605 	5/17/2008 12:40
d3d.dll 		86,016 		9/2/2007 10:04
DATA.CDF 		1,437,809 	6/22/2008 23:04
eaw.exe 		1,310,720 	6/22/2008 23:04
eaw.ini 		85 		3/30/2008 20:42
FLT.CDF 		39,540 		6/9/2008 21:37
FONTS.CDF 		1,067,664 	11/22/2005 07:51
GRBRIEF.CDF 		9,352,358 	6/19/2008 07:18
Menu_eng.cdf 		38,308 		6/10/2008 12:48
PIC.CDF 		28,294,463 	6/18/2008 20:14
SOUND16.CDF 		10,014,146 	4/1/2008 15:02
SPRITES.CDF 		254,038 	4/6/2008 21:56
TEXT_ENG.CDF 		178,120 	6/22/2008 23:05
V1.1 Details.rtf 	16,801 		11/22/2005 07:51
V1.28 Details.rtf 	17,721 		6/22/2008 23:05

\Savedata\

MissAlli.mpf 		115 		3/14/2008 16:53
MissAxe.mpf 		116 		4/13/2008 09:21

			 

Compatibility:

• The principle we stuck to was that his version should be as backwardly compatible with 1.2 as possible, so think of it as just like 1.2 but with the new features. So that players may still enjoy the thousands of EAW models and many game scenarios available, this patch is designed to work with most older EAW versions once it is installed. While most existing add-on mods should be compatible with this patch, like Skins and Terrains Textures , some custom data mods e.g. Flight Models can cause problems, see CAUTION notes below.
  
  To be backwards compatible, what that means, is that a person can put a 1.26/1.2 version of the EAW.EXE file into that game and it will still work. It is the 1.28 game data file set that is backwards compatible to earlier EXE versions, rather than the 1.28 EAW.EXE file being backwards compatible to the earlier stock file set. In other words, don't use 1.28 in a 1.2 or previous version install.
   

• The modified CDFs and d3d.dll file created in the install must be used. They are backward compatible, and also contain new files and routines which the new exe needs to use to supplement the new features; ?
  
  The Real 'EAW hill mod' and custom tmods like Damage City Buildings and skies can be used as  you can add your own just like with 1.2....Note: we have stuck with the default for the 1.28 patch.
   

• CAUTION notes: The base 1.28 patch contains a new set of Flight Models (FM's) for the 30 default planes and incorporate a number of features that are not fully compatible with older flight model sets....(Just to point out the new default FM/DM that is in the 1.28 patch IS RP2.6V10 WITH SOME ADDITIONAL FEATURES THAT THE EXE NOW ALLOWS).... The old default stock flight models or from ECA etc will not work too well with some of the new features, these will need to be updated to work properly with the new 1.28 eaw.exe. Using them as they are, the planes should still fly, but there may just be a few problems with the new features found in 1.28; Like disabled features and other minor game play problems; such as for some little oddities, like bombers may have their wheels down in flight, bombs dropping from the wrong spot and gun flashes from strange points on the plane.
  
  The normal rules apply about online compatibility; Everyone must be using the same FM/DM for the planes.
  
  To use old custom campaigns that have FM/DM data files will require newly adjusted FM/DM files to work with the new 1.28 version of the game. One has to realize that extra new entries that have been entered into the new FM/DM to control the gun convergence distance and a few other features will take a bit of time for us modders to make the adjustments for the old campaigns. We will be updating campaign flight models as fast as we can....
  
  The first EAWv1.28 compatible FM/DM for an old add-on campaign is made for Emils ETO1943-45, More will follow....
  
  Currently only (as of 10-09-2008): These Campaigns have newly adjusted to 1.28, FM/DM:
  (not many more campaigns got converted to fit to EAWv1.28).
  -Emils ETO 1942-45,
  -ETO 1943-45, (F_Emil43-45_rp2.8V01.zip (posted 8-12-2008))
  -Andys BoB,
  -SAW
  -BoB campaign by the Mod squad
  are available; Where to DL?
   

• No CD needed, fixed in the exe properly, no CD device needs to be hooked up/on either.

FEATURES/Fixes/Enhancement/Improvements/Changes

Flight/Damage Model:

• Updated Flight / Damage modeling for the 30 default planes utilizing the new exe's improved gun damage routines. This corrects the relationship between small mgs and medium mgs/cannons.
   

• Gun convergence distance set at historical ranges (It currently cannot be turned off); Convergence is about 600ft for 1940 planes (for Spit1a and Hurri1a) and about 1000ft for 1943-45 planes (mostly big MG´s and cannons). The 109E is a bit closer and the 190A (inner wing) are a bit longer. (In EAW1.2 the guns shoot strait forward, this take away much of the firepower of planes with wing mounted guns). In EAWv1.28 the bullet streams meet up in the point of convergence, in a historically accurate distance (default range is set based on what was used by the USAAF, RAF and Luftwaffe).
  
  The bullets will converge at a certain distance ahead of the plane. Of course the further the bullets get from the plane the more each guns stream is affected by random factors and gravity. After reaching the convergence distance the bullets continue on the angle and diverge again. Wing gun bullet streams do have a X shape, not a Y, so it is real-life convergence. So they act as plane guns do in real-life or as real as a game can be anyway. At long range wing mounted guns have a shotgun effect because they spread out more (right guns towards the left and left guns towards the right) but it is much better to get closer to the convergence range. We have made the lighter guns (7.7mm and 7.9mm bullets) have their historically shorter convergence range, about 250yards. Fuselage mounted guns stay well grouped together for most of their range. This means you have to aim well to hit, but when you do you hit with nearly all guns.
  
  The planes have the historical 'sweet spot' that every pilot knew and gets use to. With a plane like the Fw190, which has quite a long convergence distance. You shouldn't have any problems in getting quick kills.
   

• Guns are modeled at their historical (ROF) rate of fire. This hasn't caused any memory problems. (standard EAWv1.2 has always modeled each bullet they fired straight ahead, but the ROF was about half of real-life).
   

• Gun sight reticule size adjustable from eaw.ini value; ?
   

• Damaged flight controls (with explosions) will increase drag, but are still partially effective; The rudder, elevator and ailerons now can get damaged, then they still work, but are not that effective anymore.
   

• Plane damages cause a performance loss (more drag, less lift); Less variability in damage done when hit and a more detailed drag-inducing Damage Model.
   

• Falling debris from cannon hits on aircraft; Bullet impacts now cause debris, also ricochets are visible.
   

• Destroy-able tail gunners in bombers; Tailgunners can get killed.
   

• New engine temperature handling, New Engine Overheat Management; Flexible engine overheat options to reflect various power settings used in RL planes. Some planes now overheat very quickly while others hardly overheat at all. This reflects the use of power settings most commonly used for the various planes. Some have the equivalent of a 5 minute WEP (War Emergency Power) setting and overheat quickly, while others have a 30 minute setting modeled and almost don't overheat. When you take all this into account (especially different engine overheat possibilities), the planes could well perform more differently from each other than in early RP's, depending on circumstances and pilot choices.
  
  Every plane now can have its "personnel" overheat behavior, somewhat fitting to its engine design. In the default 1.28 planeset you already can see that.
  There we have four types of engines:
  1. Engines which could get used non-stop with max power (while only in a high speed flight), without overheating. (Though this engine can overheat while an to slow climb): Bf109G, Bf110G Spit1a and Hurri1a
  2. Engines with an long time emergency power setting. This engines will overheat faster while an to slow climb (Sondernot / special emergency or around 5min combat power): Bf109K, FW190D, P47´s, Bf109E, Bf110C, FW190A4, SpitIXc, Spit14, most bombers got this.
  3. Planes with an short time emergency setting. These planes will overheat faster even while an medium fast climb (real emergency): P38´s, P51´s, Me410, Tempest, Typhoon,
  4. Engines that don't overheat at all: Me262A
  
  The probability to overheat can get adjusted for each plane in a unique way, by adjusting the "minimum speed of best cooling". For example the Machi MC205V had a very similar engine like the Bf109G, but the climb performance of the Italian planes did suffer badly due to the small radiators. This we can adjust by increasing the "minimum speed of best cooling". So with same power, the 109G can climb and fight with 265km/h upward without overheating, while the MC205 would need to keep maybe 350km/h to avoid overheating.
  
  If the heat is decreasing, all engines decrease the heat faster than they increase it. As result its good possible to keep all engines not overheated, though you need to keep an eye to the temperature, specially if your plane only have real emergency.
  
  Now the P51´s will show their real max performance, though not for a long time without overheating and the Spit1a and Hurri1a can use its endurance to counter the emergency performance advantage of an 109E. Same goes for the 109G and 110G, which wasn't allowed to use their emergency up to the end of the year 1943.
   

• Added Combat flaps for most fighters
   

• New take-off and landing routines, be careful with that rudder or the undercarriage will break!
   

• Fixed load-outs; Gun Loadouts that now don't have to be adjusted from real world values.
   

• Working static undercarriage (actually not working ); ?allows sea planes with fixed floats...?
   

• Fixed Undercarriage; If a plane does not have the bit set (and none of the standard Flight Models do) Then when the wheels should be up they are up and down when they should be down. So, even though the B17 for an example had no undercarriage settings it will fly with its wheels up as an AI for escorting or intercepting. This has fixed the problem.
  
  (If any modders want to make their previous work use this bit for a fixed undercarriage aircraft all you would need to do is to set it by clicking the checkbox in the 'AirGrid' tool and then save your "planes.dat" file. Your "planes.dat" version would be compatible with previous eaw.exes (like v1.2).
  
  (This new option was tested with DAW, SAW and PacificTide (PT3) and in all cases the wheels are up when they should be.)
   

• Baled pilots become 3D Parachutists with corrected decent rate
   

• Any flyable plane except for the V1 is listed for selection in single missions
   

• Fuel Loads Changed; The US/American planes, had their fuel loads (and thus total weight) reduced, as they would have burnt off most of it before reaching the combat area.

Loadout:

• ?

Particle:

• Take off dust; Dust on the runways
   

• Engine Exhausts on take off
   

• New explosions, dust clouds and craters
   

• Bombs have a sandy dust cloud as result, the size depends to the bomb size.
   

• Smoke from damaged targets will reach higher and last longer.
   

• Wrecks for crashed plane: ?
   

• Bullet smoke trails; tracer smoke. (The tracer smoke only show up, if the "Special effects" (configure game) are set to "max", on medium it wont show up. Other tracer sprites can get used.)
   

• A new Sun; Glaring sun including nicer sunsets, great for hiding planes in no icons games!
   

• You can see gunflashs from inside the cockpit; Gun flashes from muzzles, visible from inside/outside cockpit.
   

• Improved and longer contrails with adjusted appearance altitude; The Contrails of high flying planes got lengthened
   

• Bits falling off aircraft from cannon hit

Graphics:

• Improved cockpits on some aircraft including nicer rearview graphics
   

• Giant shadows bug that appeared at low levels is fixed
   

• Fully un-garbled cockpit fix; (memory allocation was expanded)

Views:

• The min view height got reduced; This doesn't sound important, but if you made a ground start in EAWv1.2, you always see the other planes from above (an absolute immersion killer), additionally now you can make screenshots from below a landed plane.
  
  Cockpit Position/View Distortion; 'Warp'; The cockpit position is actually in the flight files. We made an adjustment to the minimum view height, so when you look out of the window left or right, on the runway you are looking straight across at your squad mates instead of down at them. BUT, this affects the aircraft as a whole, NOT your position in the cockpit. The effect, as has been noted, is more pronounced at different resolutions. It will never go away completely though, as there is a lot of forced perspective in the cockpit.
   

• F9 view available almost down to ground level.
   

• Extended field of view in 1024 x 768 mode (Wider view should be close to / the same as 800x600); The field of view (but only for 1024x768) is twice as wide as what is used to be in older versions of the EXE.
  This extra wide field of view was included for people who wanted a wider field of view and did not mind the apparent extra distortion caused when they did not match their field of view with the field of view of the image. (This is a perfect setting for people that use a High Definition large screen TV and sit very close to it, or use a video projector and sit close to the image so that they don't have the apparent distortion.)
  It is only one screen resolution......all the other standard resolutions have in no way been changed.
   

• Provided the "head shift" for only the snapviews in cockpit; View is shifted over more to see 'around' pilot seat...
   

Difficulty/Settings:

• When it comes to making selections from mission parameters screens with pre 1.28 versions, the operating systems are too fast for EAW so when clicking them, they change erratically. A delay to the selection routines were added to the 1.28 series to fix this annoying problem. They now change from one value to the next with a mouseclick.
   

• "Players Skill" set in Configure Game/Difficulty/Combat now limits viewing options and icon range (also see Difficulty in multiplayer section below); The views are limited, like F9, ctrl F12, ctrl F8 etc....From the Main Screen choose "Configure Game." On the following screen choose "Difficulty." This opens a pop-up window. Choose the "Combat" heading at the top. The next page has the top choice "Player Skill." The choices are "Green," "Veteran," and "Ace." "Green" will give you all the views available, "Ace" limits you to what a pilot could see.
  In the default game (v1.2), this setting had no real function. The "Mission Parameters" screen has options to set the ability of the friendly AND enemy AI planes. In campaign mode, the AI start out green and progress from there. As for your own skill, that is by your abilities.
   

• 'Enemy Skill Level' to 'Player Skill Level' now; The standard EAWv1.2 exe didn't give "Ace AI" when the player set the "Enemy Skill Level" to "Veteran". The AI skill gets and got determined by other values. For an example; In Campaigns the related squad files influence the morale and skill. In single and online missions you have an extra entry ("Pilot skill level" Pilot experience") to determine the AI skill level. This value, (similar to a lot of other values) that where never used in the standard EAW but where present, let us code it for our own use.
   

• "Realistic Gunnery" amended, and now the only difference is the bullet damage gets increased by a factor of 1.5 when "off", there is more damage caused/easier to destroy targets when off.
   

• Adjusted altitude bands for missions
   

• Night fighters get a form of radar during night missions on Ace setting
   

• A two aircraft selection screen option, Axis and Allied, with the colors of the text being changed by left-clicking at the bottom of the screen and selecting from the popup color palette

Sound:

• An additional redirection mode has been added; New individual sounds for each aircraft, (v1.2 only has generic two type engine sounds, 'radial' and 'inline'. You could only have one engine sound per slot and the actual sound of the engine is NOT related to the plane. As result you always will hear the one of the two engine sounds in each slot, though all 30 sounds are suppose to be different).
  
  However the new system allows you to assign new start and run sounds for the planes with separate sound .mpfs in the main game folder and a related new separate "\sounds\engine" folder;  Each plane slot can now have its own sound file for start and run. So you can re-number the sounds for a specific plane if you want and it will only replace the specific plane you set it too. (To use individual sounds, See Modder Information Topic below).
   

• A modified Sound16.cdf file is provided with new and improved sounds matching.
   

• setup.c has been modified to force Sound16.cdf to be used no matter whether 8 bit or 16 bit sound is selected in the games sound configuration settings.
   

• Added Doppler effect for external views too (not just for cockpit view like in v1.2).
   

• An increase in volume during dives; I introduce an engine overdrive, where the engine goes very fast if the plane is flying faster than maximum speed (dive). Note: While creating and testing sound effects you should be aware of this.
   

A.I.:

• Improved AI Escorts; they really escort!
   

• AI´s don't return to base anymore; if a human guided squad is on a bomb or interdict mission, and the mission isn't really over. (this was a real bug in EAW1.2).
   

• Realistic looking stepped bomber formations; Fighter escorts Weave back and forth over the bombers.
   

• Escorting AI´s dont fly dump strait anymore, if the follow the bombers (in EAW1.2 the escorting fighters did fly side by side with you, absolute no reaction, until they got close to the bombers, only then they did attack or evade an enemy. This was real chicken shooting.)
   

• Wingman seemed very responsive to my commands and my squadron mates seemed very aggressive against the attackers.
   

• Dive bombers will perform a real steep dive attack;
   

• AI fighters are more dangerous; more aggressive AI behavior.
   

• AI´s hide rather often in The new dazzling sun (the 1.2 sun is more like a bright moon.)
   

• AI and cannon fixes are now built in; I suppose AI now use Cannons when needed, by design?? (EAWv1.2 there is a bug where they don't, normally).
   

• Squadrons taking off together; ?
   

• New aircraft parking routines; The AI´s land now good, even on not flat runways and they park tight in two rows. In this way even 36 4-Mots can land and park without to overlap or drive through each other.
   

• Spread out formation occurs with fighters taking off from grass runways. It will be great for WW1!
   

• AI´s can be rookies, Veterans and aces. The main different is how carefully they are. A rookie wont break off that early, no matter if he is behind someone or if someone is behind him. Aces tend to go in to shorter distances before they shoot, this together with their habit to be careful can make them less effective than rookis, depending to the situations. Rookies in general wont survive that long, but they are somewhat more aggressive. Aces use more varied maneuvers.
   

• AI and The Rockets; Most rockets will work rather good on around up to 1500m, (the German WGR21 is different, cause it works with a time fuse, so it don't need a direct impact). Best distance for this weapon is around 1000m (depending to the speed different between attacker and bomber).
  Try this: Lead a squad of 110G´s, loaded with 4 x WGR21, 4000m to the rear of a B17 formation. Follow the B17´s and command your squad to attack in 3000m distance. You will see that the AI will know to use the rockets. (Can be used with default FM/DM).

Ground:

• Ground object damage model updated and ground vehicles (train, trucks etc) resized;
   

• New formations of ground conveys; ?
   

• Moving ship convoys; ?? really??
   

• Up to 255 TMods (objects types) are available, there are allied and axis vehicles and trains; (Read the Modder Information topic below)
   

• Improved AAA, be careful around enemy airfields!
   

• More people on the ground and birds in the air
   

• When close to the front-line, you can see explosions hitting.

Controls:

• Full usable 4 mots (engine on/off etc); Four engines bombers are flyable from ground starts, bomber individual engines can be started or stopped. Allows for ground starts.
   

• Accelerated time even close to the enemy is possible; (In EAWv1.2 for game play and stability reasons you could not use time accel when within view of the enemy planes).
   

• Frames Per Second (FPS) now printed on screen with "Ctrl G" (15FPS okay, 30FPS Great, 60FPS Best)
   

• *1.28 did remove the ability to throttle down the left and right engines separately, which replaced an existing bug that only one of the two was ever possible.

Missions:

• all planes, also the bombers, (but not the V1), are selectable and flyable in single missions.
   

• Night time missions selectable; in 1.28 exe there is an extra night bomber stream formation.
   

• "Bomber stream" night bomber formations: the game will only give you 3 planes on 'night' mission even if you select more. true for not escorting fighters, cause in a night mission the planes did fly alone, not as a big squad. As result every wing only have one plane (it looks very stupid to see your wingi cover you at darkest night). Since escorting planes can have up to 4 wings, they can have 4 planes per squad. One reason is that we cant have that many bombers in the bomber stream, otherwise the last would lose contact to the leader and return to base. If you fly a bomber mission at night, you will get up to 16 planes.
   

• Alternative Quick start missions available with ini toggle; (see the INI Entries topic below)
   

• Ability to make fighter sweeps over friendly territory
   

• Correct pre-decimal currency in UK/US leave passes
   

• Interdiction missions allow you to select the type of convoy and the size

Multiplayer:

• 16 players per session since v1.28 (v1.2 allows only 8). *Most likely for LAN play
   

• The host can set the target, friendly and enemy bases, types of AI planes, whether you re-spawn after dying, whether your squad includes AI plane, and several other things
   

• The "Difficulty" setting limits in-game viewing options and icon range; Pilot Skill; With EAWv1.28 we introduce three different "pilot skill levels".
  1. Green
  The player get the default EAW view possibilities.
  
  2. Veteran.
  The cockpit cant get disabled. The max icon range got minimized a bit.
  
  3. Ace
  Almost all external views are disabled, only the "free camera view" stay available.
  So the player only can sit inside the cockpit and he can leave his plane to move through the EAW world, by using the mouse (not a real help while in combat). Additionally the max icon ranges got shorter again.
  
  Additionally to this settings, you can disable all enemy icons. So only friendly icons stay visible.
  
  I wrote this, cause a new EAW.ini is set to "Veteran" by default. As result you cant disable the cockpit. If you want to switch to "Green", go to "configure game" --> "difficulty's" --> "combat" and change "Player Skill" to "Green".
   

• You now need to hold the ESC key down for several seconds to exit the game. (Before this it was too easy to hit the Esc key accidentally when intending to hit the default in game Chat Key, which is just below Esc on the keyboard. If you did you would get the "Do you wish to exit?" message which requires a "Y/N" response. The problem was that this would pause the game for all the other players. Hence, the routine was changed.)
   

• Interdiction types and sizes can be set, as in single mission mode
   

• Multiplayer settings can be created in a text file and loaded by the host; ?
   

• You can play with yourself! / Fake Host
  For HOST-Only mode you can select Multiplayer....TCP/IP.... eave the IP address blank, click okay and select "NEW". This will show you the expanded parameter screen.
  
  You are set up as the Host and you can experiment with the new selections available. Among other things, you can select the target, the friendly base, the enemy base and the AI aircraft. (where if you did single player you could only select the region, no target selection).
  When your finished you can Launch the mission and you will be in the game all by yourself, just like a single mission. The only difference is that accelerate time does not work, and the loadout selections are limited (exactly as they are in 1.2). In single missions, loadout selection has many choices.
  
  The point here is that people who have never flown online can learn what to do in order to Host a game, or use it to test multiplayer Mods. Note: That many of the selections available to the Host are not available to the other players. (The programmers found this feature useful to test MP routines, and we left it in.)
   
• Additionally to the default "Host settings" the host can determine the following options from within the Pre-briefing screen (where all players meet up).
  
  1. NoAI (yes/no)
  2. Groundstart (yes/no)
  3. The target area.
  4. The Host homebase.
  5. The 2nd Ai plane homebase.
  6. Two enemy bases,
  7. Up to two friendly Ai plane type (if AI´s are allowed)
  8. Up to three enemy Ai plane types.
  9. Player skill level (1. all possible views are allowed, 2. No free front/rear view, 3. No external views).
  10.Target Icons on/off.
  
  With these options, we have a similar range of possibilities like we have in IL-2.
  
  Groundstarted games with plane reserve on the ground, with homebases in close distance, with "only friendly icons" or no icons at all, etc, all of course as option. :)

INI Entries:

Under [EAW] section

• "HudFontSize=0" Toggles the HUD Font Bold, to improve legibility at high resolutions "0" is off, "1" is on
   

• "GunSightSize=1024" Sets the Gunsight Reticule size. Valid values range from 800 to 2100. Note: "1550" is the maximum that fits nicely on the current Spitfire gunsight. Using this value, the wingtips of a fighter fit into the circle at a range of about 150 yards.
   

• "OldStyle=0" "0" activates the new 2 (allied/axis) screen plane selection option, "1" selects the original 3 picpln*.mnu screen layout.
  For "OldStyle=0" the two selection screens (allied/axis) are "aselect.mpc" and "gselect.mpc".
  They are referenced by "asel.men" and "gsel.men" menu files which only load the picture and contain no menu items as the program does that automatically from data in "pnames.str" and "planes.dat". So, you can easily use alternative screens and not worry about "*.mnu" files.
   

• "ColourAxis=10" default colour of text on new Axis plane selection screen
   

• "ColourAllied=3" default colour of text on new Allied plane selection screen
   

• "BirdSeed=5" a value 1 (more) to 5 (less), to change the occurrence of birds ingame
   

• "Quickversion= " Selects one of RAF_Roy's set instant missions.
  =0" default Quickstart (random mission type)
  =1" very small battle size + random mission type.
  =2" very small battle size + last selected mission type (single mission setup)
  =3" very small battle size + Figthersweep
  =4" very small battle size + Escort
  With QuickVersion > 0 Bombers only will get interdicts.

Under [Netoption] section (also adjustable from Online pre-briefing screen)

• "StartOnGround=0" Multiplayer mission option, "0" = airstart, "1" = groundstart
   

• "NoAI=0" Multiplayer mission option, "0" = with AI in your squadron, "1" = no AIs
   

• "AllowRespawn=1" Multiplayer mission option, "0" = No automatic respawn, "1" = Allow Respawn

Plus many miscellaneous bug fixes to the default game...and probably some more fixes and features that we have forgotten about. PLEASE NOTE This is intended as a brief outline.
 

MODDER INFORMATION

Data Tables:

In the new exe a number of tables or 'data structures' that were in the old exe have been moved out into data files, just like the planes.dat in the original game. It is bad programming to put datasets into the exe itself and 'fixes them in stone' so to speak. Now we can make new .dat files for a number of features and drop them into the main EAW folder and the game will look for them first before defaulting to the internal tables. We left the internal tables intact in the exe so it is backwardly compatible with older mods. We will have a page that has editors for making and editing these data files for new planesets/campaigns up soon...

• External TMod tables can be made and saved in a "TMod.dat" file

• External ship convoy waypoint tables can be made and saved in a "convoys.dat" file

• External formation tables can be made and saved in a "Frmation.dat" file

These files can be made by special custom editor programs.

If any of those files are present in the EAW folder, the new exe will use the file in preference to the built-in table.

Some subtle things:

• To solve a frontline problem in the FAW theater we discovered that the exe uses a particular "TCode" as a reference to determine the friendly and enemy sides of the frontline. Previously we thought it was based on the Capitals set in campaign files. If the value is contained in a file named "CapSet.dat" in the EAW folder it will be used in preference to the one hard coded in the exe.

• Previously unused values in "Planes.dat" can now be utilized, and a plane can be set as a seaplane, do a carrier landing, or have a fixed undercarriage.

• There are some other possibilities where several different nationalities can be displayed when read from an external file, in preference to the standard ones; ?

Gun Convergence Ranges:

• From Knegel (posted 12-21-2008) Currently the small MG´s(Spit1a/Hurri/SpitIXc) are adjusted to around 500 feet, the big MG´s and cannons are at around 1000 feet. The MGFF of the 109E are adjusted to around 600 feet.
• Adjusting FLT's: As long as you play offline, you can adjust the convergence range by using 'F-edit,' an extra program editor, all online players need to use the same setting, however. (see note about compatibility below). It can be set in each of the plane's FLT file , but does take a while to set the angle and test by trial and error.
• FLT Compatibility: Unfortunately once it is set in the FLT the game requires all player's plane files to be exactly the same for compatibility. So the convergence cannot be setup for each individual persons preferences. That is a limit in the game design that could be changed in the future, with a lot of work. Also It currently cannot be turned off.

Individual Engine Sounds / Engine Customized Sounds (New Engine Sound Loading System):

• The new exe provides its own engine sounds for every planeslot (30) in the SOUND16.CDF file, as well as providing a usable new redirection system used with a separate download of a sound archive.
  
  If want to use the new system you can D/L the needed "Sounds" folder with readme instructions...
  With the new system you can store some hundred different engine sounds in an "\sounds\engines" folder. Every sound gets a different sound number. The sound for the plane you want can now be loaded from a related .mpf for each sound and placed into the EAW main root to play the sound for the wanted slot from the \sounds\engines folder.
  
  In this way the sounds are not permanently slot related anymore. Meaning, when the .mpf file parameters are set, every engine sound can get used in every slot a modder chooses. As result you only need to store every unique engine sound only one time inside the "Sounds" folder. They are never moved or copied, they stay only there. (You can use the same sound in all 30 slots if you want).
  
  The special pointer .mpf files are very very small, this .mpf file points to the wanted sounds inside the "Sounds" folder. You can add the related .mpf file to many different setups; It's no problem to add the needed .mpf files to an existing plane set if needed. The .mpf files get loaded together with the plane set, so the engine sounds will fit.
  
  The engine (start/run) sound files need to keep be called like this:
  "SND****.SND", while "SND0060.SND" up to "SND0119.SND" represent the engine sounds of the default 30 planes. All over we can have "SND0000.SND" up to "SND9999.SND", what will give us a wide range of possibilities. For every new sound included, write a related txt, to give a small description ( "SND0060.SND" and "SND0060.txt").
  
  Directions for assigning sounds:
  --------------------------------------------------------
  
  The sounds are already assigned for all the planes in ETO_01,
  (Early and late Europe, and early and late Russia.) but if you wish to
  use a different sound in the folder, place a text file in the
  planes/slotxxfm/plane-type folder named "PlaneSoundsxx.mpf" (With xx being the slot
  number.) with this info in it:
  
  [EngineSounds]
  StartSound=182
  RunSound=183
  
  (or whatever the number of the sound file)
  
  If there is already a PlaneSoundsxx.mpf file, just edit the startsound and
  runsound number to the sound number you prefer.
  
  If you do not 'assign' a sound with a PlaneSoundsxx.mpf file,
  the plane will use the default sound for the slot.
  
  The engine sounds are no longer specified from within the aircraft data file.
  The sounds are now specified, depending upon what aircraft slot the aircraft is put into.
  
  
  Here are the default aircraft types and the slot with sound file links:
  
  

  aircraft 	slot# 		start_sound 	run_sound
  
  PL_P38H 	0 		SND0060.SND 	SND0061.SND
  PL_P38J 	1 		SND0062.SND 	SND0063.SND
  PL_P47C 	2 		SND0064.SND 	SND0065.SND
  PL_P47D 	3 		SND0066.SND 	SND0067.SND
  PL_P51B 	4 		SND0068.SND 	SND0069.SND
  PL_P51D 	5 		SND0070.SND 	SND0071.SND
  PL_B17 		6 		SND0072.SND 	SND0073.SND
  PL_B24 		7 		SND0074.SND 	SND0075.SND
  PL_B26 		8 		SND0076.SND 	SND0077.SND
  PL_HURR_MKI 	9 		SND0078.SND 	SND0079.SND
  PL_SPIT2A 	10 		SND0080.SND 	SND0081.SND
  PL_SPIT9 	11 		SND0082.SND 	SND0083.SND
  PL_SPIT14 	12 		SND0084.SND 	SND0085.SND
  PL_TYPHOON 	13 		SND0086.SND 	SND0087.SND
  PL_TEMPEST 	14 		SND0088.SND 	SND0089.SND
  PL_MOSQUITO 	15 		SND0090.SND 	SND0091.SND
  PL_ME109E4 	16 		SND0092.SND 	SND0093.SND
  PL_ME109G6 	17 		SND0094.SND 	SND0095.SND
  PL_ME109K4 	18 		SND0096.SND 	SND0097.SND
  PL_ME110C 	19 		SND0098.SND 	SND0099.SND
  PL_ME110G 	20 		SND0100.SND 	SND0101.SND
  PL_ME410 	21 		SND0102.SND 	SND0103.SND
  PL_FW190A8 	22 		SND0104.SND 	SND0105.SND
  PL_FW190D9 	23 		SND0106.SND 	SND0107.SND
  PL_ME262A 	24 		SND0108.SND 	SND0109.SND
  PL_JU88A4 	25 		SND0110.SND 	SND0111.SND
  PL_JU88C 	26 		SND0112.SND 	SND0113.SND
  PL_JU87 	27 		SND0114.SND 	SND0115.SND
  PL_HE111 	28 		SND0116.SND 	SND0117.SND
  PL_V1 		29 		SND0118.SND 	SND0119.SND

  
  
  
  PLEASE NOTE:
  1) Only the slot number and the sound files are relevant.
  2) This work is based on the sound fixed files...?
  3) Separate sound files will still be picked up by the game from the EAW main root folder, should you want to swap different sounds for an aircraft slot.

Fixed Undercarriage:

• Testing the new exe in which some additional values can be utilized in "planes.dat", and carries a major upgrade in AI behavior we have found an odd little quirk; A number of AI bombers in other scenarios have nothing set regarding their undercarriage configuration. The B17 for instance, As a result they fly with their wheels down. (I do not know if this is a legacy from ECA, but it seems to me that even AI planes should have an undercarriage configuration in "planes.dat". Of course if the plane is to be flyable it would obviously need one any way.)
  I have just written a new version of my Airgrid tool which has checkboxes for the two available bits in the fourth panel. The first of these can be checked if the aircraft has a fixed undercarriage. The last one is not enabled until we can use it: I (Jel) added some code to the new exe as suggested by Ralf, and with a bit of modification to get it working properly we can now utilize the fixed undercarriage bit. 

Engine:

• New engine temperature management; With this we can create different engine types and max power setups. For example planes that had a WEP setup, now can created with it. Then the engine will overheat rather fast, when using max power. And planes that dont had WEP(in real life) can get adjusted to fly forever with full power. Also if a plane had cooling problems (in reality), we can adjust the engine to fit to this. If i say "we", the modder need to do this, not the players!!
  
  
  The planes fly in the same way like in EAWrp2.6v10. Even the US planes already had the reduced fuel weight. The main different is the engine handling and as such sometimes the engine performance.
  
  We are able to provide two different possibilities to adjust what and if a engine have WEP:
  
  1. The engine wont overheat, if it get flown faster than a adjustable speed (inside the flight files).
  2. The engine will overheat, but not as fast, if it get flown faster than a adjustable speed (inside the flight files).
  
  With these two settings, we can provide a heap of different engine types, where "type" is related to the way and how and if a engine will overheat and cool down.
  
  For example we gave the P51´s combat power (1-3min WEP, real WEP)), what that means that this engine can use its max power for a very short time span. To cool down the plane needs to stay fast and it needs to use a rather low power setting. The Spit1a, Hurri1a, 109G, 110G wont overheat if they get flown above best climb speed (around 260km/h) depending to the plane (if you climb to slow, the cooling moment is low and so the engine gets hot).
  
  Most other planes will overheat slowly, if they get flown above best climb speed (5-10 min WEP), with a little reduced power they wont overheat, if flown below best climb speed they will overheat rather fast. So after game start some planes will have a slight advantage (P51 or SpitIXc vs 109G, or 109E vs Spit/Hurri1), but after a while the engines that are slower at overheating will show an advantage.
  
  To maintain a cool engine now need to be a part of the pilot skill and can influence the plane performance positive and negative. For example, the normally not overheating engines of the Spit1a, HurriI, 109G and 110G will overheat, if the planes get flown always on the stall edge (good below best climb speed). And the power advantage of the 109E and P51´s will be very fast gone, if they get flown very slow.
  
  On the other hand, its good possible to keep the engines cool, cause they will cool down up to 6 times faster than they overheat, depending to the used throttle setting and speed.
  In general:
  Higher speed = higher cooling moment.
  Less throttle = smaller heating moment.
  
  Two little tips:
  1. If your plane is in a fast dive (around Vmax horizontal speed), max throttle wont help much to achieve a higher speed, but a little less throttle increase the cooling moment a lot.
  
  So the best moment to cool down is at high speed, cause here the cooling force is larger, while the thrust at max power is very small. As result reducing power a little doesn't matter that much.
  
  2. If your plane gets below best climb speed (around 260km/h), then heating will raise a lot. So its good to avoid stall fights, or do it with reduced power. This isn't only a disadvantage, with reduced power the torque moment is smaller and so the spin probability is as well. Further more the enemy tend to overshoot or stay in front, if you reduce power. Specially while a stall turn, a reduced throttle often help to keep the plane stable.

256 TMODS:

• Ground Clutter, about roads and ground 'clutter'.. we can improve upon this somewhat but there are some limitations to the 'tile' terrain approach that are not suffered by 'mesh' terrains such as used in all the modern games. We only have a limited number of tiles to wok with so site-specific geographically accurate terrains are not possible.
  
  We are limited currently to 64 items of non-target ground objects per 4Km square tile ( including farms, city blocks, churches, trees etc..), we can then add some 255 items to each target site within any tile. In the original v1.2 game we only have 74 ground object 'slots' for models and a significant number of these are 'fixed' for certain types of objects, either because they are used in land or sea convoys or trains or because they are specified in the campaign engine as 'resource buildings' for calculating replenishment rates during the campaign phases. In the new 1.28 patch is increased to 255 'slots' and of course none of the new slots are used in the game engine ( since they didn't exist !!) so we are free to place a lot more ground models into the game...hope that helps you realize the limitations and possibilities for ground 'clutter'....We just have to be careful of FPS effects of too many items in view at one time, as EAW uses mainly CPU time/System memory rather than making use of the graphics card itself ( it was written when a 4 Mb gpu card was standard) then we can easily hit bottlenecks...
  
  How to take advantage of 256 Tmods with the ability to use an external tmod.dat table. To use the new tmod numbers you simply make a 256 line tmod table (A default one is used to edit. The tmod properties using Jel's Tmod editor, and then put it in your EAW folder. The eaw.exe will then read it and use any, or as many as you like, of the new numbers up to tmod255_*.3dz. If you don't use any of the new numbers it doesn't matter.
  We really do need lots of new ground objects to take advantage of this facility.
  
  Revised 3D Info:
  There have been a lot of extra possibilities added to the current 1.28 exe, which need to be documented, or else, nobody will ever be able to take advantage of any of these changes....
   
  • First up are the crashed plane models. All the 3dz's are named WR, followed by the standard slot name .3DZ, as in WRP38H.3DZ. The texture links for each 3DZ are CR, plus the slot name, as in CRP38H.PCX.
  • Second change is the addition of new Tmods to the game. These now give us Allied and Axis convoys. I've just posted a jeep model, which replaces the Kubelwagen in the 54 slot, as this is the Allied convoy position, and many of you must have noticed a Kubelwagen driving along with American trucks.
    
    The changes are as follows:
    
    Tmod43_*.3dz Allied Locomotive grnd43.PCX
    Tmod44_*.3dz Allied RR Tender grnd44.PCX
    Tmod45_*.3dz Allied Box car grnd45.PCX
    Tmod46_*.3dz Allied Tanker car grnd46.PCX
    Tmod47_*.3dz Allied Flat car grnd47.PCX
    Tmod48_*.3dz Allied Box car grnd48.PCX
    Tmod49_*.3dz Allied Flak car grnd49.PCX
    Tmod50_*.3dz Allied Fuel truck grnd50.PCX
    Tmod51_*.3dz Allied Open truck grnd51.PCX
    Tmod52_*.3dz Allied Truck grnd52.PCX
    Tmod53_*.3dz Allied Halftrack grnd53.PCX
    Tmod54_*.3dz Allied Jeep grnd54.PCX
    Tmod55_*.3dz Axis Panther grnd55.PCX
    Tmod56_*.3dz Allied Sherman grnd56.PCX
    Tmod57_*.3dz Allied Transport ship grnd57.PCX
    
    Tmod72_*.3dz Allied Destroyer grnd72.PCX
    Tmod73_*.3dz (not used) was Destroyer Turret
    Tmod74_*.3dz Axis Fuel truck
    Tmod75_*.3dz Axis Truck
    Tmod76_*.3dz Axis Truck covered
    Tmod77_*.3dz Axis Halftrack grnd77.PCX
    Tmod78_*.3dz Axis Kubelwagen grnd78.PCX
    Tmod79_*.3dz Axis Locomotive grnd79.PCX
    Tmod80_*.3dz Axis RR Tender grnd80.PCX
    Tmod81_*.3dz Axis Box car grnd81.PCX
    Tmod82_*.3dz Axis Tanker car grnd82.PCX
    Tmod83_*.3dz Axis Flat car grnd83.PCX
    Tmod84_*.3dz Axis Car w/Panther grnd84.PCX
    Tmod85_*.3dz Axis Flak car grnd85.PCX
    Tmod86_*.3dz Axis Transport ship grnd86.PCX
    Tmod87_*.3dz Axis Destroyer grnd87.PCX
    
    The PCX numbers are supposing your running an all HR Tmod install, so these could be different, but I'm working toward making a 100% HR TMOD 3D.CDF, with Ray's improved aircraft included, to bring the game up to date, as far as possible.
  • Next, new texture links. These effect basically HR aircraft models only.
    
    This link is intended to give a working transparency for the M & S.3DZ's [distant models]. The enabled texture link for these are, PP38HSEX.TPC links to PP38HSRA.TPC and so on.
    
    This link is intended to give a working transparency for the P.3DZ's. The enabled texture link for these are, PP38HPEX.TPC links to PP38HPRA.TPC and so on. This will allow us to use painted disc type propeller animations similar to other modern Sims.
  • All slots now have two cockpit TRA links, V to VTR, and Y to YTR. This helps shunting cockpits around, because a 110 cockpit would not work in a bomber slot, for instance.
  • For all shadows there is now a fixed link, SHADOW.TPC to SHDOWRA.TPC, so this will stop the need to borrow TRA effects from other places. This link will give transparent shadows for every 3DZ model with it's shadow, liked to the SHADOW.TPC. The texture file is just a single colour Grey, and the TRA is just a single colour pink shade. For Tmods an extra SHADOWs.TPC is needed in the game folder. This will be fixed in the next update.

  The whole new Tmod-objects list:
  
  3D file set Shape Tex reference
  
  Tmod01_*.3dz factory grnd01.PCX
  Tmod02_*.3dz factory grnd02.PCX
  Tmod03_*.3dz refinery grnd03.PCX
  Tmod04_*.3dz factory grnd04.PCX
  Tmod05_*.3dz (not used)
  Tmod06_*.3dz factory grnd06.PCX
  Tmod07_*.3dz RR Station grnd07.PCX
  Tmod08_*.3dz warehouse grnd08.PCX
  Tmod09_*.3dz u-boat pen grnd09.PCX
  Tmod10_*.3dz v-1 launcher grnd10.PCX
  Tmod11_*.3dz Bridge grnd11.PCX
  Tmod12_*.3dz Susp bridge end grnd12.PCX
  Tmod13_*.3dz Susp bridge grnd13.PCX
  Tmod14_*.3dz Bridge roadbed grnd14.PCX
  Tmod15_*.3dz Short bridge grnd15.PCX
  Tmod16_*.3dz Long bridge grnd16.PCX
  Tmod17_*.3dz Heavy Flak grnd17.PCX
  Tmod18_*.3dz Light Flak grnd18.PCX
  Tmod19_*.3dz Oil tank grnd19.PCX
  Tmod20_*.3dz Radar control grnd20.PCX
  Tmod21_*.3dz Radar tower grnd21.PCX
  Tmod22_*.3dz 3D Forest grnd22.PCX
  Tmod23_*.3dz Fort grnd23.PCX
  Tmod24_*.3dz Fuel Dump grnd24.PCX
  Tmod25_*.3dz AC Tower grnd25.PCX
  Tmod26_*.3dz Ammo bunker grnd26.PCX
  Tmod27_*.3dz Hanger grnd27.PCX
  Tmod28_*.3dz Barracks grnd28.PCX
  Tmod29_*.3dz Mess hall grnd29.PCX
  Tmod30_*.3dz Headquarters grnd30.PCX
  Tmod31_*.3dz Briefing Rm grnd31.PCX
  Tmod32_*.3dz Tree grnd32.PCX
  Tmod33_*.3dz Trees grnd33.PCX
  Tmod34_*.3dz Tree grnd34.PCX
  Tmod35_*.3dz Trees grnd35.PCX
  Tmod36_*.3dz Tree grnd36.PCX
  Tmod37_*.3dz Trees grnd37.PCX
  Tmod38_*.3dz Tree grnd38.PCX
  Tmod39_*.3dz Trees grnd39.PCX
  Tmod40_*.3dz 3D Forest grnd40.PCX
  Tmod41_*.3dz warehouse grnd41.PCX
  Tmod42_*.3dz 3D Forest grnd42.PCX
  Tmod43_*.3dz Allied Locomotive grnd43.PCX
  Tmod44_*.3dz Allied RR Tender grnd44.PCX
  Tmod45_*.3dz Allied Box car grnd45.PCX
  Tmod46_*.3dz Allied Tanker car grnd46.PCX
  Tmod47_*.3dz Allied Flat car grnd47.PCX
  Tmod48_*.3dz Allied Car w/Sherman grnd48.PCX
  Tmod49_*.3dz Allied Flak car grnd49.PCX
  Tmod50_*.3dz Allied Fuel truck grnd50.PCX
  Tmod51_*.3dz Allied Open truck grnd51.PCX
  Tmod52_*.3dz Allied Truck grnd52.PCX
  Tmod53_*.3dz Allied Halftrack grnd53.PCX
  Tmod54_*.3dz Allied Jeep grnd54.PCX
  Tmod55_*.3dz Axis Panther grnd55.PCX
  Tmod56_*.3dz Allied Sherman grnd56.PCX
  Tmod57_*.3dz Allied Transport ship grnd57.PCX
  Tmod58_*.3dz Small church grnd58.PCX
  Tmod59_*.3dz City bldgs grnd59.PCX
  Tmod60_*.3dz City bldgs grnd60.PCX
  Tmod61_*.3dz City bldgs grnd61.PCX
  Tmod62_*.3dz City bldgs grnd62.PCX
  Tmod63_*.3dz Cathedral grnd63.PCX
  Tmod64_*.3dz Farm grnd64.PCX
  Tmod65_*.3dz Manor house grnd65.PCX
  Tmod66_*.3dz Large chateau grnd66.PCX
  Tmod67_*.3dz Windmill grnd67.PCX
  Tmod68_*.3dz Chateau grnd68.PCX
  Tmod69_*.3dz Parachuter grnd69.PCX
  Tmod70_*.3dz (not used) People Milling Sprite
  Tmod71_*.3dz (not used) People Marching sprite
  Tmod72_*.3dz Allied Destroyer grnd72.PCX
  Tmod73_*.3dz (not used) was Destroyer Turret
  Tmod74_*.3dz Axis Fuel truck
  Tmod75_*.3dz Axis Truck
  Tmod76_*.3dz Axis Truck covered
  Tmod77_*.3dz Axis Halftrack grnd77.PCX
  Tmod78_*.3dz Axis Kubelwagen grnd78.PCX
  Tmod79_*.3dz Axis Locomotive grnd79.PCX
  Tmod80_*.3dz Axis RR Tender grnd80.PCX
  Tmod81_*.3dz Axis Box car grnd81.PCX
  Tmod82_*.3dz Axis Tanker car grnd82.PCX
  Tmod83_*.3dz Axis Flat car grnd83.PCX
  Tmod84_*.3dz Axis Car w/Panther grnd84.PCX
  Tmod85_*.3dz Axis Flak car grnd85.PCX
  Tmod86_*.3dz Axis Transport ship grnd86.PCX
  Tmod87_*.3dz Axis Destroyer grnd87.PCX
  
  
  Transparency for shadow, M and S skin, separate propeller skin - excellent idea!
  Works it only mentioned, or near of all Skins (*AEX.PCX -> *ARA.PCX)?
  
  There are no other changes for the other textures, linked to 3dz's, as you asked AEX.PCX -> *ARA.PCX. We can't add links for these, as all the models using AEX, BEX, CEX, EEX, GEX, would have to be updated. And that would be a lot of work, so the added links, are the only possible ones.
  
  There are no changes in functional codes (140 -153).
   

  Altering Ground Objects: With several mods and new tools for editing the ground objects in EAW I thought it might be a good time to remind people that the game contains a 'resource management' element in campaign mode that is used to determine the availability of new aircraft in each phase of the campaign, so you need to be careful not to put too many of the various 'factories' in the world or there will be a glut of production points available and your bombing raids won't have any material effect on the campaign development... so go easy on the 'resource' tmods guys....
  
  also don't forget that some buildings are used by the exe as 'markers', like the boatyard building for instance to indicate a coastal location for the allocation of sea convoys as interdiction targets.. and the railyard to highlight availability of rail interdictions at a site...

  Don't forget the radar towers - no towers, no radar availability; Remember from the code, if there is no radar cover, it effects the chances of secondary squads intercepting you. There is a few posts on this at the Gen. Apart from that you get the "no radar coverage" message, and of course you can't be vectored by the controller either.

  ... each factory has a points value under several different headings, like ball bearing production, fuel production, aircraft manufacturing production. and destroying them destroys capacity to build planes in later phases if I remember rightly. Only UK and German points can be destroyed though, the US has a fixed points value, since their production is 'over the pond' so to speak, thus giving the allies a built in advantage in campaign terms.
  
  as I understand it doubling the factories on both sides just means they will both have plenty of spare production capacity and destroying them wont affect the availability of planes since they have surplus...
  
  there are a number of 'resources' allocated to the factories which are used to calculate production points for the later phases of a campaign to simulate damage to the economy, and shortages if you don't protect your infrastructure. (There should be a resource system notes with the values that should be able to be edited).

   

Smokey TMODS:

• The code to make the smoky tmods is in 1.28 and 1.29+. We used what appeared to be unused settings in the tmod data....Currently its only for tile targets....
  
  How to:
  Adjust the tmod.dat to the following:
  1. smoke > 0 (8 = grey smoke, 11 = black smoke, 14 = white smoke)
  2. SmokeOffsetX > 0 (1 = very smal, 70 is already realy big).
  3. SmokeOffsetZ , to adjust the smoke start heigt.
  
  The smoke size can get adjusted by just one value.
  The visibility distance also change with SmokeOffsetX (look to the code below).
  If SmokeOffsetX > 10 there also will be a fire below the smoke.
  10 seems to be a good size for factory smoke, this will be visible on long range, like the fat smoke.
  
  If you lower the smoke alt (offsetZ) you can cover the fire with smoke.
  
  Regarding the fire we could make this: equal SmokeOffsetX numbers greater 10 generate fire, the others not.
  
  So 20 = fire, 21 = no fire.

  ....This relates to tiletargets placed by Geawttd2.dat. If we used the Z coordinate, might that also have something to do with tmod height....

Airfield Modding:

• The airfields in standard default eaw are 3DZ models, very like the planes and ground objects, they are not integrated with the underlying tile, that is why they look a bit primitive in the default game.
  
  We can increase the complexity of the original models and also the level of detail of the skin or we can make a very simple model and simply 'skin' the detail onto it....with the latest 1.28 patch we will have a transparency color on airfield skins for the first time so now we can make a simple square for skinning accurately then 'randomize' the edges so the underlying squareness is lost in the game....
  
  As indicated we can now do better airfields and we have increased the number of models in the new 1.28 to 30 (from 11 in the original game) so more diverse airfields will be possible, and even accurate representations of specific airfields in limited campaign settings...

Engine Customized Sounds
from Knegel (posted 7-11-2008)

This is for people who want to create plane sets or single planes, or who want to change their engine sounds rather often.
In EAW1.2 we only had two possibilities, "radial" or "inline", what engine sound we did hear was related to the planes.dat setting. So if i did load a F6F into the Typhoon slot, i got the radial engine sound. When i did load a 109G into an FW190 slot, i got an inline engine sound.
The new exe provide own engine sounds for every planeslot, but we miss the possibility to trigger the wanted sound by an planes.dat value.
This will lead to not fitting sounds, when a new plane set or a new singleplane get loaded.
For example, when i load a F6F into the Typhoon slot, i wont hear a radial engine sound, but still the Typhoon engine sound.
Like always we can load, additionally to the addon flight files, the fitting engine sound files into the EAW root.
For a complete planeset of 30 planes this can have a huge size, otherwise its easy, but when we want to load a single plane, we would need to load the wanted skin, the wanted FM/DM and the wanted sound. The main problem is that we need to store every engine sound for every slot we want to use it in.
All this lead to an big amound of space and need quiet a lot of time while selecting new planes.
Cause this we did introduce additionally a new engine sound loading system.
Who want to use the new system can D/L the needed "Sounds" folder and an instruction here: NewEngineSoundSytem.zip
With the new system you can store some hundred different engine sounds in an "Sounds" folder. Every sound get a different sound number. Now you can load an related ini for each sound into the EAW root to play the sound for the wanted slot.
In this way the sounds are not slot related anymore, every engine sound can get used in every slot. As result you need to store every engine sound exact one time inside the "Sounds" folder and they stay only there, while you can use the same sound in all 30 slots if you want.
The ini file are very very small, so its no problem to add the needed ini files to an existing plane set.
The ini files get loaded together with the plane set, so the engine sounds will fit.

For more informations D/L the zip above and read the readme.

??
From RAF-Roy (posted 9-11-2008)

It is a bit complex, you can't easily do it by hand.
You need the special utility from TheGen to do so. I used the TModUtility 2008 version Jel made with success, I didn't like the other older one.. illustration posted at the coder's forum the other day. Basically you copy the data from an existing object and paste it to new desired tmod slot. Save it. Also you can alter it a bit after that.

More on Engine Sounds
From Knegel (posted 9-14-2008)

EAW1.28 provide one engine sound per slot, they are initially static and are NOT plane related.
As result you always will hear the same engine sound in each slot, though all 30 sounds are different.

To change the engine sound, you need to load a new engine start and engine run sound for the wanted slot, OR, you can store many hunret different enagine start and engine run sounds inside an "Sounds" folder. Then you can load very tiny ini files into the EAW root, this ini files point to the wanted sounds inside the "sounds" folder. In this way you need to store every engine sound only one time, but you can add the related ini file to many different setups. The advantage of the ini´s is that they have a size of less than 1 kb, while the engine sounds itself can have a rather big size, and you can use one and the same engine sound in different slots, without to duplicate it(if there are more than one 109E´s or Spit1a´s, like in BoB for example).

Gun Flash Problem With Cowl and 1.28
From Rotton50 (posted 12-04-2008)

I'm setting up the flight files for NG. I notice that when the cowl guns are in the correct position for outside views
Then this is what I'm seeing inside the cockpit; The tracers are in the correct position but the gun flash sprites are up above the gunsight. If I adjust the flight files so that the inside view is correct then outside....To correct the problem I lowered the "Master" F.3dz down about 12 clicks in 3dz Studio. That moved the entire model down so that the cowl flashes are up on the cowling. That means the models sit a little low on the runway and the hitpoints aren't quite right. I flew against the adjusted model and didn't notice any difference when I shot at them so the adjustment is acceptable but it's a kludge and shouldn't be generally accepted.
Can anyone else confirm the problem?

(BPNZ) Yes this is one of the adjustments ralf and I are doing for each plane in the entire RP2.6 plane set. If you extract the FLTs from the 1.28 CDF, you will see that there are small differences from default RP2.6V10 values. The main difference is the guns setup for the convergence.
For this problem (cowling gun flashes too high in cockpit view compared to outside view), you need to adjust the "Hit Bubble Z2" value, as this is governs the position of the cockpit 3dzs in relation to the pilot view (center of computer screen). On all the 1.28 FLTs we have reduced? this value by about 0.2 - 0.3. From memory the negative Z value gets smaller (from default -2.5 to -2.3 or -2.2), but you need to check for yourself. Try it and you will see that it works.
Please post if you have further problems with this. The existing 1.28 FLTS can be used as a guide.
Let me know how you get no.

(Rotton)The adjustment worked. However, the number was quite a bit larger than .2 or .3. More like 1.5.
What's nice is that I can set the flash so you can just see it out front of the windscreen.
How does it affect the damage model?
Will it make the pilot too low in the cockpit or is it basically not a big deal?

(Knegel) yes, in some degree it influence the damage model, cause you had to adjust the pilot upward to let the flashes move down, the pilot can take hits more easy. On other models i saw a different while combat, but it wasn't good or bad, it was just there.

Belly Landing a Spitfire
From Knegel (posted 12-21-2008)

unable to belly in an aircraft; talk about Spitfires, they have a to high low front fuselage point, so they tend to go nose over, while belly landing, resulting in a explosion. For EAW1.28a i will include updated Spitfires. For now i dont found a other plane with same problem.

[END v1.28]

v1.2x The Code Group - release (April 29, 2015)

• Smaller eaw.exe 1.20 MB (1,232 KB) (1,261,568 bytes) CRC 8B86C761
• Alternate file icon.
  
• Full NoCD function. (No CD and No Device/Driver are not required to be present).
• Full NoOS function. (removes detection of WinNT system. Also avoids career file save errors on WinNT).
  
• Includes the old coded 7217 work around; ...?
• Displays a Map at loading mission. At the right resolution, shows "Game loading #%".
  
• Makes Screenshots folder upon run.
• CTRL-G gives the FPS.
  
• ??More??
  

[END v1.2x]

[END]