================ Fuel Consumption: ================ (Thrust x Specific Fuel Consumption) ____________________________________ = Fuel use per second 3600 GE J79 11,905(lbf) x 0.85 lb/(h·lbf) / 3600 = 2.81 lb/s of fuel 17,835 lbf x 1.965 lb/(h.bf) / 3600 = 9.73 GE F110 17,155 (lbf) x 0.73 lb/(h·lbf) / 3600 = 3.47 28,000 (lbf) x 2.06 lb/(h.lbf) /3600 = 16.02 *Use 6.8 lbs per gallon for jet fuel (JP-5). *Use 6.0 lbs per gallon for aviation gasoline (avgas). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================================ Change aircraft to land on ships ================================ In the .pt file ;---------------- START OF PLANE_TYPE ---------------- dword $55 <--- change this to: dword $57 ptr env word -4 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============= Fresh Install ============= 1. Uninstall Fighters Anthology. 2. Change your computer clock to the year 1998. 3. Install Fighters Anthology. 4. Install the patch for Fighters Anthology. 5. Change your computer clock back to the current year. 6. Install the Playset, Campaign files, etc... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========== FA Cheats ========== 1) Right CTRL-ALT-SHIFT when clicking on Quick Mission allows you to fly any plane.* 2) Right CTRL-ALT-SHIFT when clicking on Single Mission allows you to play any mission.* 3) Right CTRL-ALT-SHIFT when clicking on Load Mission in Pro Editor allows you to load any mission.* 4) Right CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-V saves current screen in RAW format.* Use RAW2BMP or Toolkit program to convert to bitmap. 5) Right CTRL-F displays the frame rate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ===== Note: The Fighters Anthology folder can handle no more than 1,635 files total. ===== ======================================================== More than two aircraft takeoff from airport at same time: ======================================================== - Layer a copy of the runway on top of the original. The game will put two sets of aircraft there, ready for takeoff. Prevent A/C from targeting A/C on ground: mark aircraft on ground as "ignore" AND mark the aircraft's first waypoint (usually a takeoff waypoint) as "ignore." ============== SUBMERGED SUBS ============== 1) Probably the easiest way to do it -- set the shape to either WAVE1.SH or WAVE2.SH. If you do that, it will look like a wave and will blend in with the rest of the waves in the ocean. Other objects will be able to damage it (depending on the damage points). If you use this approach, I suggest you increase the damage points, 'cause the explosion of weapons on the sea will be less effective against a submerged sub. The shortcoming of that approach is that sometimes the "wave" is too noticeable. 2) Use the SUN.SH or MOON.SH. This makes the object totally invisible in the game, but it looks weird on the REFERENCE screen. These shapes do not take damage, so the object is effectively indestructible. But then again, submerged subs shouldn't be destructible in the first place... anybody here seen dasboot? (Depth charges...) whatever. just my two cents here. ========== SMOKE PODS ========== Making smoke pods for FA is very easy. Basically you'll want to make an inert weapon. By inert I mean non-moveable and non-destructible. You'll want to set all speeds to zero and set the maximum altitude to around 100K. Don't worry about range. Set all damages to zero and then set its removal to a value of about 1 or 2. Then in smoke effects, select the color smoke you want (black, grey, white, transparent) and set its frequency to something between 20 & 30. Then set its exist time in this window to about 4, existing in the air for 1 second. Make its start size small, below 10 and its end size above 35. Then go into firing info and make it hold many projectiles. Through the toolkit you can only set 255 but in the JT file itself you can go up to 32767. Make it have between 255 & 1000. Set all the other values to one except the last one, set that to zero. In ordinance parameters click loadable to hardpoint, continuous fire, and final collision check late. Then just save and you have a smoke pod =========== MUSIC FILES =========== First off, you've got to understand the music files of Fighters Anthology. Uh... there isn't that much to understand, actually, so I'll just get right to business and tell you how I modify them. If you wish to edit the music files, download the .MUS files from my downloads site. After you've got them, extract them to your FA toolkit. Use a hex editor to open the files up. You'll see I've named them M_air.mus Dogfight M_danger.mus Enemy detected M_deck.mus On the deck M_eject.mus Ejected M_home.mus We're almost home M_launch.mus Takeoff M_normal.mus Normal Flight M_succ.mus Success M_valk.mus Ctrl+V (Hidden track) Now when you open up the files, let's say you're opening M_air.mus, you'll find on the right side something that looks like ydogf, and the y's got two little dots above it. FF 64 6F 67 66 00 FB 64 01 FE 06 00 00 00 01 02 ; ydogf. . ..... Should look something like this. Found it? Okay, I'll explain what it means. Basically, you can ignore the y thingy, and focus on the four letter dogf. That means the .11k file that Fighters Anthology will look for after it sees this M_air.mus will have the name of dogf001.11k ... **IMPORTANT** Now, to get music into FA, you first have to convert whatever you want to put into FA into a 8 bit 11,025 hz wave file. *++* Suppose you have a MP3 that you want converted to a wav for use in Fighters Anthology, that's perfectly fine. Use Goldwave, and excellent program for this job... All right, you've downloaded goldwave, and you've opened it up. Open up the .mp3 you want to edit, and in the effects menu, something on the way bottom says resample. Open that up. Change the number that you've got to 11025. That's 1-1-0-2-5... got that? When that's finished, click on save as, and then save your file as a 8 bit , mono, unsigned wave file. Still with me? Okay, that's great. Open up the FA Toolkit, go to sound, then go to import. Find your file, and import it as whatever name you want,because as long as it's in misc format, it doesn't make a difference at all 'cause you're just about to edit it anyway. After you've succesfully imported, then open up your project folder. Find the file you've just imported. Let's say it's &test.11k, then. Remember your M_air.mus file, the thingy that says ydogf? And remember how I said your file will have to be in the name of dogf001.11k? Well, that's simple enough. Simply click on rename, and then rename your file to dogf001.11k, removing the "&". But that's not it, you have to open up theitem.dat. After you've done that, search for the &test.11k you originally named your sound file when you first imported it. After you find it, change it to dogf001.11k. Save, and then you can exit. And that's it! Keep in mind, all I did was just walk you through the procedure for M_air.mus, which is for dogfight. That means when you build the library, be sure to include both M_air.mus and dogf001.11k AT THE LEAST. Remember, suppose you want to change the next one, M_danger.mus... nobody's stopping you. I'll first tell you the yxxxx name here, to save you the time of opening it up in hex editor... Keep in mind these are the settings I use, you feel free to edit them if you want. M_air.mus ydogf (dogf001.11k) M_danger.mus ydang (dang001.11k) M_deck.mus yvalk (valk001.11k) M_eject.mus ynorm (norm001.11k) M_home.mus yvalk (valk001.11k M_launch.mus yslam (slam001.11k) M_normal.mus ynorm (norm001.11k) M_succ.mus ysucc (succ001.11k) M_valk.mus yvalk (valk001.11k) ============== 5K sound files: ============== To create a "5K" sound file in Windows, follow these steps: Create your sound and speed it up by 2x (i.e. use the "increase speed (100%)" menu item). Save it as an 11K file. Import it into the toolkit as an 11K. Open the project directory and change the file extension to 5K. Open the TK.TRN file (in some toolkits it is the ITEM.DAT file) and change the appropriate line. The file is saved at 11K at twice the speed. But when you change the extension, it is played at half speed, giving you an end result of the correct speed. This does, however, lower the audio quality somewhat (which can actually be an advantage if it's a radio message). ==================== Taildragger aircraft ==================== Have you ever wondered why the Marchetti SF-260 , being a taildragger plane does not sit on the ground with its tail down, or wanted to create a taildragger of your own?. well its easy, open the .pt file of any plane ( the SF-260 is used here), and scroll down to the Plane type section. Change the "0" or whatever is there to correspond with the HUD pitch ladder reading you want to see when the plane is on the ground. I have been useing 8 for my taildraggers and it seems to work . The planes tail will come up when proper airspeed is reached on takeoff. (as long as you are not holding back on the stick) then you can take off as a taidragger should, with slight backpressure on the stick after the tail is "flying". Good Luck boys! ;---------------- START OF PLANE_TYPE ---------------- dword $14 ptr env word -3 word 6 word 340 word 368 word -73 word 0 word 73 word 73 word -146 word 146 word 7 word 7 word -146 word 146 word 73 word 73 word -195 word 195 word 237 word 474 word 0 word 0 word 6 word 6 word -45 word 45 word 90 word 90 word 20 word 70 word 15 word 116 word -3 word 3 word 3 word 9 word 10 word 128 word 5 word -90 word 90 word 237 word 474 word -90 word 90 word 237 word 474 word -90 word 90 word 237 word 474 word 512 word 512 word 128 word 15 word 1 word -2 word 120 word 180 word 30 word 70 word 15 word 5 word 0 <<<< here it is..change this line to 8 or so for on the ground angle of attack ============================================================================= How to edit the radar and infra-red signatures of Fighters Anthology aircraft ============================================================================= The parameters to edit an aircraft's radar and IR signatures can only modified in the .PT file. The .PT file is in your /Fighters Anthology/Toolkit/Project/Projectname folder, and will have the aircraft's filename that you have specified in the toolkit. Open the file with a text editor. Below is the text from inside a file. Scroll down and you'll see that I've marked the pertinent lines: [brent's_relocatable_format] ;---------------- START OF OBJ_TYPE ---------------- ;---------------- general info ---------------- byte 5 word 540 word 541 ptr ot_names dword $12bf3 word $ffff8000 ptr shape ptr shadowShape dword 0 dword 0 word 30 word 0 word 0 dword 0 dword 0 word 0 word 20 word -30 dword 0 dword 1956 <<<<------ this is a good line marker, the service entry date word 111 word 0 word 77 <<<<------ Visual signature word 77 <<<<------ Laser signature word 100 <<<<------ Infra-red Signature word 100 <<<<------ Radar Signature word 0 word 115 etc. The lower the number, the smaller the signature. 100 is the default value. Try opening the B-2, F-117, and F-22 files (you'll have to save it in the project first, so the file shows up in the folder). You'll notice that the signatures are smaller than default. Making the signature smaller does not make aircraft fully as stealthy as the B-2, F-117, and F-22, as these aircraft seem to have a built in stealthiness. This effect can only be replicated by basing a new aircraft on one of those three. However, editing the signature through the PT file can still have a major effect on aircraft and missiles in the game. ================================ Man-Hours of Repair in Campaigns ================================ word 10 ; miscPerFlight <--------------- man hours of maintance per flight word 10 ; repairMultiplier <------------- repair multiplier dword 47250 :hards ;-------- hardpoint 0 word $8 word 0 word 0 word 0 word 0 word 0 word 0 word 0 ptr defaultTypeName0 byte 0 word 1 byte 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ===================== Carpet Bomb check box ===================== The carpet bombing check for aircraft causes that aircraft to fire any weapon (with a specific carpet burst specified) differently from how that weapon would be normally fired. It will fire the number of weapons that have been specified in a weapon's "Game rounds in carpet burst" box, accessable via that weapon's Firing menu. "Delay between game rounds" specifies the time interval (in 1/4 seconds) between each projectile in a carpet burst. For example, if a B-52 has carpet bombing checked and carries Mk-82s, and the Mk-82 has 20 as the number of game rounds in a carpet burst, fired at an interval of eight 1/4 seconds, the B-52 will drop 20 Mk-82s over a period of 40 seconds on any target it attacks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ================ Minimum Altitude: ================ To get aircraft to fly at lower altitudes will require a change in the PT file on line 58 for minimum altitude ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ================================== HARM Seeker Loadable to Hardpoint: ================================== [brent's_relocatable_format] byte 10 ptr si_names word 350 byte $0 <----change this to '$1' for loadable, '$0' for not loadable byte 4 =========================================================================== How to have missiles on ships and vehicles aim at 180 degrees automatically =========================================================================== There are two ways to get this to happen. One, is to make the missile a gun in the toolkit. In the missile's main editing window, change it's TYPE to Gun, and then in the Ordnance Info menu check "Object is a Gun". Because missiles are not slewed in Fighters Anthology, but guns are, the ship or vehicle will slew now the weapon. Another way is to keep it tagged a missile, but edit a line in the .JT file toward the bottom. This line controls the horizontal field of view (FOV) for the missile when loaded on vehicles and ships. Here's an example excerpt from the .JT file: "byte 31 <-------- AI vehicle horizontal FOV (change to 180 for all aspect firing) word 1400 word 1668 word 0 word 120 word 260 word 5460 word 2730 byte 100 byte 100 ============ Section removed to save space ============= word 0 word 750 word 35 ;---------------- END OF PROJ_TYPE ---------------- :ot_names string "SA-3" string "SA-3 Goa" string "SA3.JT" :shape string "goa.SH" :loopSound string "&salmis.11k" :si_names string "SA-3" string "SA-3 Goa" string "SA3.JT" :fireSound string "&saltmis.11k" end" =================== Ukraine A-7 problem: =================== I had changed the stock "A7" to another file name so the Superhornet would take the Corsairs place in the campaign, problem is ,in the Ukraine campaing at the GOS mission (#42)they add the F22N (by default) AND an EXTRA A7, the A7 addition is more or less hardcoded into the campaign, if you change the A7 to something else (A6 for instance) it STILL tries to ad an A7 but conflicts with itself. The line is near the bottom in the cam file and reads "add.A7" as I recall. Changing that line to read (for instance) "add.A6" just gets you an error message like "unable to locate A6 dll" or something like that. The other campaign files dont have that line at the bottom so you can edit those normally. =================================== =================================== The Wrench's Mission Tips & Tricks =================================== =================================== Yes, Virginia, you CAN change some of the weather effects in ATFG and FA! Below you'll see a copy of a 'm' files opening lines: textFormat brief briefmap armplane map egy.T2 layer cloud1f.LAY 1 --#1 --something extra!!! clouds 1 --#2 wind 65 7 --#3 view 1211 1424353 956806 sides3 (---I snipped out all the middle stuff---) time 10 0 ----#4 usGroundSkill 1 usAirSkill 1 themGroundSkill 1 themAirSkill 1 historicalera 4 obj #1:You can see here that I've used the 'cloudy day', which would normally give you a low ceiling of about 5000 feet, and an upper deck of about 10,000 feet. #2: Here is the cloud layer setting. If you use 0 (zero), you'll get a foggy day. We don't want that, so I set the level to '1'.This give a nice, patchy cloud layer RIGHT AT GROUND LEVEL. sort of like patches of snow on the ground. In the line marked 'something extra' you'll notice the 'f' in the middle. This allows you to change the texture overlay of the map. You can see this is 'egy.t2', the Egyptian desert map. By changing that 'e' to an 'f' or 'v' you can get the France or Vladivostok green overlay. It also works the other way, as well. Turn that nice lush green French countryside into a wasted desert. Just change the f to e. And it IS case sensitive...lower case letters ONLY (thanks to the Vark for that tip!!!) #3: This is wind direction and speed. You can see we have a 7 knot wind from 065 degrees. You can change these values to almost anything -- how about 200 knot headwind, from due north? '0 200' is what that would read like. #4: Time of day. You can change this as well. Using the 24 hour, military clock. Want to make twilight last longer, change the default to an earlier time: such as 18 to 19; the sun will be up, low on the western horizon. Or dawn break later. The usual time is 6; change that to 4 or 5 -- this gives you a longer night time before the sun rises...it works VERY well if you have long flying times to the target area, and want to get 'upsun' of the Bad Guys! (thanks to P.Mok for the 2 above tips!) Here is a test mission that allows you to explore a snowy wintery day in Israel...with ground texture changes. Just Discovered!!! The 'snow' cloud layer can be added with any weather condition. I was experimenting with it using the 'clear day layer', and changed the cloud level to 1 from the 96000+ as usual. And it worked! What's interesting to note, if you change the time of day to 7 or so for a 'sunrise', you get orange clouds on the ground. Must be some kind of chemical haze....smog??? ============================ Remove Permanent Map Objects ============================ Received another email from FabioCape; who sent in two tips below, about 'hidden' maps in FA. It appears that you can REMOVE permanent map objects when building a mission. It works like this: 1) Build mission normally; adding the items YOU want (airfields, city blocks, etc). Save and exit. 2) Open the M file in your favorite text editor. 3) Look for the map T2 identity line (see below) textFormat brief briefmap armplane map egy.T2 <---This line! layer cloud1.LAY 1 wind 65 7 view 1211 1424353 956806 sides3 4) Add the letter "v" after the map name: map egyv.T2 <--It should now look like this Save the M file. Go back into the game, and ALL the usual, permanent objects will be gone!. Note: in testing this, I also noticed that several 'ground textures' were missing as well--like rivers, some mountains and other textures.! But it DOES work! So you can clean out all the unecessary items, and have a clean map to do with as you see fit: call it Maryland, or Norway or whatever you want! "If you name it, people WILL believe..." Also, be advised that it does NOT work in the Vietnam map in FA...if you try it, you will get a "fatal error" and crash out. I'm still testing the other maps as of 9/1...more to come! NEW!!!There is ANTOHER code letter for use in changing map textures in FA. The Vietnam map uses a T. You can place it in the same spot as the 'e' or 'b'. It will change to map texture to the nam-jungle type. I experimented with this on the Pakistan map, and it looked like crap! The ground texture took on the appearence of a mutant radioactive jungle (which would probable be ok for the post-nuke war world). But it was different. It also will not work on the Baltic, Ukraine or France overlays. I guess since they're green already.... Thanks again FabioCap! This is another good one! TOOLKIT TRICKS ======================= Changing Object's Icons ======================= Some time ago, there was a post on one of the now-defunct FA boads, about changing the map icons of aircraft; mostly from bomber to fighter. I've been playing with that; particularly because I needed ships "added to groups" for Wingman #2: Lucifer Crusade. In the original version I used APC's with a ship-shape, but learned that you can change the icon, and now it shows on the map as a ship/boat, but moves in concert with others in a group. Open the object to be edited in a text editor (notepad works great--don't ya love simple text editing!!), and find the line, as marked below: ;---------------- START OF OBJ_TYPE ---------------- ;---------------- general info ---------------- byte 3 word 258 word 196 ptr ot_names dword $821 word $400 <--this line determines icon ptr shape Here is a list of the icon codes: * 8000 - Fighter * 4000 - Bomber * 2000 - Ship * 1000 - SAM * 400 - Armoured vehicle (Tanks/APCs) * 200 - Unarmoured vehicle (trucks, etc) * 80 - AAA * 40 - Other (building, camel, Kenny, etc) If you find out any other, let me know and I'll update the list! NEW: P.Moks Super Lib Tricks! Removed to conserve space ================================= LIB Trick for Pre-1960's missions ================================= You must have one of the toolkits for this to work. This is something I discovered while working on the 'Korea:1950' mission set. The North/South Korea map come prebuilt with existing objects: airports, a few city spots, etc; no big deal. BUT...you're stuck with all the existing AAA and SAM sites. Since most, if not all these items were invented MUCH later than the 1950-53 conflict, how does one get rid of them? Well, you could open the map in the TK, save it, and then physically remove all them from the mm file; OR create 'dead' objects. Open the map in a PMC, then turn off the 'show' switch for everything BUT SAM and AAA. List all the objects, both enemy and friendly. Go back to the toolkit and find all the objects (example: SA3.nt). Then remove the weapons from the vehicles hardpoints. What I did with mine was replace the missiles (on the SAMs) or guns (in the case of ZSUs or M163s) with the 'fakegun.jt' ala P.Moks hint. This will show up on your RHAW (which didn't exist yet either...oh well) as the flicking of a search radar, which did exist. You can also create a generic 'AA vehicle' by giving it a something like the 12.7x4.jt -- multiple machine guns. Leave the M1939, KS12 and KS85 alone, since similar flak weapons would exist in ALL eras. This is what I did, and it works great! This can also be done for any 'Cold War' type missions set earlier then 1962, when the first SA-2's started showing up. Just 'kill' all the later models of SAMs and AAA. Adding the Missing Maps to the FA Toolkit Some of you may have noticed that the Kurile Islands and Ukraine maps are missing from the TK's Map section. Well, some months ago I made mention of that on P.Mok's Message board. And he responded with the following (which I fortunately printed out for safe keeping!) Here's how you can add the omitted Ukraine and Kurile Maps back into the FATK Using 'Windoze Explorer', go the the FATK sub-folder, and open the subdirectory named Cache.mm in a text editor (notepad, etc). You might want to make a backup of if somewhere safe for insurance. Copy these two lines EXACTLY: KURILE.MM Kurile 2 34E58A00A2F98A0004 UKR.MM Ukraine 2 73FD8B00E71F8C0004 When you look at the mm file listing, you'll see how the columns of names and numbers line up. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! Save the file -make sure you save "as ALL files". Otherwise if gets really screwed up. You can now view and save the Kurile and Ukraine maps. And do some other interesting things... ====================== CREATING A 'CLEAN' MAP ====================== So, you don't want to have all the other stuff cluttering up an alread existing map; say you want to represent Southern China (like I'm doing in DarkWing). Here's how: Select the map from the TK's terrain menu. Once the window opens with the map information, just click OK and save it to your project. DON'T MAKE ANY CHANGES YET!!! You'll be informed that the **.mm and ** t2 have been saved. Exit the toolkit and find the **mm file in your project directroy (ie: Toolkit/project/yourprojectname). Open the **.mm file -you'll probably want to use Wordpad as the file is VERY large. Looking at the file you'll see that it's very similar to the m file for a mission. To remove EVERYTHING, just highlight all the ot, nt, etc file, until you get to the bottom. There is some other stuff down there (that I don't know what it is), but don't touch it. Just remove the usual object suspects. Save the mm file, select 'save as ALL files', and then you can go back to the TK, and see that all the permanant objects (but not the 'city-type tiles' on the ground have been deleted. It really works...when I finally finish 'DarkWing', you'll see a blank Ukraine map, with nothing on it but the things for the missions. This trick will be used again in 'IronGate', where the Pakistan map will be standing in for South Africa..... IMPORTANT SUB-NOTE: If you ever have to 'rebuild the cache' in the Toolkit, you will loose those added maps. They will have to be re-input. Also, be advised that for some reason, the Ukraine map MAY cause crashing of the game. The cache.mm file can become corrupted with modifications...SO MAKE A BACK UP AND STORE IT SOMEWHERE SAFE!!! Many thanks to P.Mok for the above tips!!! ====================== Mission Specific Loads ====================== The Pre-Load Cheat With special thanks to the Vark and Rogue Squadron! NOTE: this special function ONLY works on the W95 games: USNF 97, ATFGold and Fighter's Anthology. This is probably the most important thing to come about since the 3-D mission editor in ATF 1.14. By editing the actual hardpoints on an aircraft, you can 'custom tailor' the weapons load. Not only for 'friendly' aircraft, but the 'threat' aircraft as well. Below you'll see a typical aircraft object listing, from the 'm' file: . obj type F22.PT pos 813526 10000 866368 angle 0 0 0 nationality2 0 flags $4017 speed 725 alias -1 controller $80 name Player skill 1 react $c000 $3fff $0 searchDist 0 hardpoint 7 4 agm88.jt <------- add hardpoint data here . By adding the line 'hardpoint * * xxxxxx.jt'(where the * represents a hardpoint number, and the sencond * represents a weapon amount) you have preloaded an aircraft for a specific mission, in this case, our Raptor is performing a SEAD strike. The hardest thing I've discovered, is locating the object list, or jt file. Having a copy of the ATFG Toolkit is a help, as it lists ALL the usual suspects, but NOT one's adding by external lib files. I'll be trying to compose an object list as time goes by. If any of you have played by 'FABrit' set, you'll see that I've used it extenisvely, especially with the EF2000, when performing the strike on the old NATO HQ - that aircraft was configured for a strike, plus HARMs for defense suppression, and the usual loadout of air-to-air. Another trick, I just discovered, using the Varklibs (either FA or ATFG). On aircraft that don't have radar, such as the A-10, you can STILL use the AWAC/JSTARS downlink. While reworking several of the 'DarkWing' missions, and using Vark's E3C 'Sentry', that give BOTH air and ground radar info, I discovered that adding a FLIR pod the the 'Hogs' allowed them to 'see' out to the maximum range of 150 nm. I know this is totally unrealistic, but it sure helps when you have to defend your airbase in a plane with no radar!!!! This seems to work with ANY aircraft, with either the IR or Radar sensors, as long as an AWAC or J-STAR's type aircraft in available. =============================== Mission Building & Editing Tips: ============== Adding Scenary ============== Not sure if this is a Toolkit Trick or a Misson Trick! Got an email from Alex Fauth, one of the 'Wingfans', and he was fiddling around with my 'Wingman #5: The Twisted Cross' set, and came across a little somthing I thought to pass one. In the mission you have to clear the jungle for the Canal Nazi trucks to pass. Well, we ain't got no jungle, but we do got trees. And now you can make them an addable object to the PMC. In the TK, you can find the 'tree1.ot' & 'tree2.ot' listing. You'll see that they have no "internal name" (the first line in the object description). Well, just fill it in with the matching name (ie: trees1 for trees1.ot), and fill in the description box, make the object 'others can collide', and zinggg...you have groves of trees to be added to a mission in the "other" catagory. Many thanks Alex! It sure looks good, hiding tanks and vehicles in a forest! ============================ Camo Covers For Ground Units ============================ This one came to me while working on the Wingman set for #14 & 15. We all know, and have seen camo netting over vehicles, artillery, and AA units. So, I wondered how I could do that. And the answer was staring me in the face right in the object list: mtcamo.ot -- the camo tent. Which is actually more like netting. You can use the 3d editor to 'drop' it on top of AA batteries, as shown above, or tanks, trucks, troops, crates and containers -- any small object that you want covered. It really dosen't hide them, but it DOES look nice! (see above for adding trees..now we can hide the camo tent, ground unit if a forest!) ================= Waypoint Activity ================= Those of you that have played my mission sets,know that I usually have a lot of ground action. And most of you know that most things WILL attack another thing, as long as you give it specific instructions in the waypoint acitvity boxes. In an unlibbed game, the only ship that will attack another ship or object is the Sarancha patrol boat. You can trick the games AI into doing almost anything. I have been able to get AAA's to attack ships, tanks, and structures. I've also gotten SA-7s, 14s and Stingers to attack tanks (sort of a poor mans RPG).You just give the object waypoints, and click on the specific 'target box' in the activity listing. In Wingman #2-The Circle War, at the Battle of Denver, you will see Stinger's shooting at tanks. As you can see in the image below, in the 'activity' boxes, you have a bunch of selections. The example here is a SARANCHA patrol boat. If you want any Tank, APC, AAA or ship or 'soliders' to attack a structure or vehicle, set the 'fighter' and 'bomber' reactions to either "ignore" or "defend", then set the 'vehicle', 'structure' and 'other' to "attack". If you give the object a waypoint, you MUST list a specific target, such as a group of enemy troops or tanks/APC's. Zoom your map into the smallest grid, approx 1 mile, and give it VERY short waypoint, like 3-10 seconds travel time, with a specific target and set the 'until destroyed' box. That should do it! Missing Picture! =========================== WAYPOINTS: EDITING ALTITUDE =========================== Got an email about this, from Fabio Henrique C. Capeleiro (who also discovered the 'select keyboard' fix for FA's PMC 3d editor)from way down south in Brasil, and here is what he said: "I discovered a way to do the planes get under the 1000 ft limit. To do this you must edit the .m files. Here's a example: Find the waypoint you wish to edit (to indentify the waypoint more easily, name it) [Altitudes are indicated by the RED text] waypoint2 6 w_index 0 w_flags $1 w_goal 0 w_next 0 w_pos2 0 0 611242 10000 746057 w_speed 0 w_wng 0 0 0 0 w_react $0 $0 $0 w_searchDist 0 w_preferredTargetId2 $0 w_name Attack SAM Then you change this: waypoint2 6 w_index 0 w_flags $1 w_goal 0 w_next 0 w_pos2 0 0 611242 ->10000<- 746057 w_speed 0 w_wng 0 0 0 0 w_react $0 $0 $0 w_searchDist 0 w_preferredTargetId2 $0 w_name  to 200 or anything else under 1000: waypoint2 6 w_index 0 w_flags $1 w_goal 0 w_next 0 w_pos2 0 0 611242 200 746057 w_speed 0 w_wng 0 0 0 0 w_react $0 $0 $0 w_searchDist 0 w_preferredTargetId2 $0 w_name  And then the autopilot will hold the altitude to even 1ft! The only problem is: your wingman can't get so low." Wrench Note: I've been experimenting with this and discovered a few things. The autopilot WILL hold the altitude, but the cockpit voice will say 'descend to angles 0'. And if you set another waypoint, say from 200 to 500 feet, it will say 'climb to angles 0'. Which would be ok, flying over the Dead Sea or Death Valley! Just don't let it throw you; my opninon is that the games AI can't 'see' any altitudes between 1000 feet and ground level. ============================================ ADDING SOUNDS AND PICTURES TO YOUR BRIEFINGS ============================================ It's come to my attention, that I've neglected to address some of nicer aspects of editing mt files. Like how to add sounds and some pictures to them. Please note, only certain pictures WILL load and NOT mess with the color palettes. Adding sounds to the briefing is actually quite easy. You probalby have a mt file open for writing, and want to jazz it up a little. You want to set a 'feel' for the mission...give the player something to worry about. Easy enough. Below is a sample mt, taken from an upcoming 'Wingman' mission from "The Lucifer Crusade": .section 1 THE LUCIFER CRUSADE -- Mission #02 The Wingman #3 The "Feeling..." .section 2 .sound ^dohim .center .underline .header SOMETHING'S COMING! ..underline You can see, at the beginning of section2, the added line ".sound ^dohim". When starting the mission, on page 1 of the briefing, you will hear 'Do him!'. Remember, to just use ONE sound file per section. I just use it in the opening, and then again in the success and fail debriefs. Doing it this way eliminates any 'aural confusion' to your machine ================================ ADDING PICTURES TO THE BRIEFINGS ================================ In the dark days of DOS, with ATF/NATO, you could add pictures of the weapons icons to your briefings, and they looked pretty good. But when ATFG came out, and I tried to port several mission over, it would crash to the desktop with a loud 'thud'. So, that one is OUT. But you CAN add some nice pics of the medals to your debriefs. They do not affect the color palette, and cause no problems that I've seen. Below is a sample mt file, from the unfinished 'Wildcards 2' mission set: .section 3 .sound ^objdest .center .picture navycrss .center .header MISSION SUCCESS .left .body Excellent work, 58. You beat your way through the defenses, and plastered the target. This should stop production of the new fighters for a long time to come. "The President of the United States, and the United States Navy, is proud to present you with the Navy Cross, for gallantry in action against overwhelming odds" Congratulations. And this below is what it looks like on screen: Missing Picture! Make sure you use the '.center' above and below the '.picture *.*' line, otherwise the pic will be set flush left. NAMING OBJECTS, OTHER THAN AIRCRAFT This is one of the best, and most forgotten trick. And one I forgot to put up here as well!!! This is how it works: You have a ship, airport or whatever you want to give a name to. you need the little 'name line' from the player or computer controled aircraft. It looks like this: obj type F16C-HH.PT pos 605163 10000 1600479 angle 90 0 0 nationality2 0 flags $4057 speed 890 alias -2 controller $80 name H.Hunter <---this line skill 3 react $0 $8000 $0 searchDist 0 hardpoint 4 1 f250.gas . This is Hawk Hunter's special F16 for use in my 'Wingman' series. You can see the name, with the little boxes. This is in notepad. In the atfutil, it will be the little smiley faces, as that's how the dos edit see's it. ========================= Object Naming in Missions ========================= Now, to name that ship, in this example, use the 'copy' command and slid your cursor over JUST the name section. Find the ship, tank, building, airstrip, whatever you want to name, open a space between the alias and skill lines, like this: obj type KITT.NT pos 1179085 0 881381 angle 90 0 0 nationality3 0 flags $4013 speed 0 alias -4 name USS Saratoga skill 1 react $c000 $0 $0 searchDi And there you have it: you just named the Kittyhawk class carrier (kitt.nt) to the USS SARATOGA. I've done this with ships, city blocks, etc. Now remember, it's very easy to go overboard with this, so if the player isn't really able to target the item you want to name, don't bother wasting time doing it. It just gives the CPU something to do when it should be drawing in some graphics. Those of you that have played the 'Firebreak' mission set will recall the strike by the Israeli 'Phantom's on the supply depot, where you will see the storage units labeled, one of which is the VR-55 nerve gas, mission objective. In 'Warbirds', when you go after the PSI truck convoy, I DID get a little carried away...several of the truck in line had the labels, that read: 'dontfollow' 'meI'm' 'lost!'. As you scrolled through the targets, your F4 target window would say 'truck', then "Don't Follow Me I'm Lost!" I thought it was funny at the time..... |======| |======| |JK FAQ| |======| |======|