Projected knowledge base:
The idea is to put together a thread which regroups useful knowledge - tutorials, troubleshooting, how-tos, and that sort of thing, so as to build a consultable base. If you know of any good stuff, please add it or a link to it below, and I'll see about editing it into the projected thread.
Please do not use this thread for discussion - relevant posts only.
Thanks.
Adding non-stock aircraft to campaigns?
While on mission building...
This is simple. Go into your CFS3/campaigns folder and back up the campaign you want to modify. In this case, make it non-operational by adding a _bkp tag (or whatever you use) to the .xml tag, NOT to the campaign name - or it'll appear in the menu anyway. So you have this:
fortress europa.xml
fortress europa.xml_bkp
Your working copy is of course fortress europa.xml
Open this with Windows Notepad - make this default for all .xml files if you can, as these are only camouflaged text files, in CFS3 at least.
Scroll down until you find this section:
<TechTree>
<Aircraft Type="BF_109G_6">
<Date Month="2" Year="1943"/>
</Aircraft>
<Aircraft Type="BF_109G_10">
<Date Month="4" Year="1944"/>
</Aircraft>
<Aircraft Type="DO_335A_1">
<Date Month="2" Year="1945"/>
</Aircraft>
It goes on to list all the stock aircraft.
As you can see, it's easy - copy/paste the full set of 3 lines again
<Aircraft Type="BF_109G_6">
<Date Month="2" Year="1943"/>
</Aircraft>
And change the Aircraft type to the one you want to use. Let's say the DL_Bf109g-10DC_White24.
Open the folder of that aircraft and look for the .air file. Here it is DL_109g-10_W24.air. If you remove the ".air" tag, you get the sim name/model name - paste this in over the existing aircraft name so you get this:
<Aircraft Type="DL_109g-10_W24">
<Date Month="2" Year="1943"/>
</Aircraft>
The Date line determines when this aircraft becomes available for you to fly in the campaign; spawning is controlled by the xdp file and is not affected by this line, so the dates do not need to correspond - imagine that your squadron is issued with that aircraft later than some others, for example.
Obviously you will not be getting hold of Bf109G-10 aircraft until much later, so here it should be, say:
<Aircraft Type="DL_109g-10_W24">
<Date Month="1" Year="1945"/>
</Aircraft>
Which is about right for this particular version.
And that's your lot. Save, close and off you go!
Assigning speech files to nationalities
Open your country.xml file in CFS root, using Notepad. You'll find that each country has an entry that begins like this:
<Country ID="Germany" Name="Germany" ShortName="GER" DirBase="ger" Nationality="German" Heading="bearing"
If you then go to your CFS3/sounds folder, you'll find a number of .gvp files. These contain the speech used by pilots and AIs. There are four types - air, ground, pilot, wingman. You'll see that each one is tagged with a three letter code that corresponds to the "Shortname" entry in the country.xml file - highlighted in red. So the German language files are air_ger.gvp, ground_ger.gvp, pilot_ger.gvp, and wingman_ger.gvp. (Colours for illustration purposes only.)
So if you want for example to change the language your Spanish Nationalists use, copy-paste the four (British, American or German) files, and re-tag them with the appropriate three-letter code for Spanish Nationalists. There you are, done. There are also some home-made Italian sound files in MAW, which Alessandro Biaggi did specially.
Commands : Foot brakes reversed
this tip can help if you have Pro rudder pedals :
"
foot-brakes are on when your feet are in the normal position, and off when you push with your toes?
Go into C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Combat Flight Simulator 3.0
and open CFS3.xca with notepad. Scroll down until you find the entry for your foot brakes, and add a minus sign where I've put it in red.
<Device Type="Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals">
<GameMode Name="Player">
<Axis ID="X" Action="AXIS_LEFT_BRAKE_SET" Scale="-18" Nullzone="82"/>
<Axis ID="Y" Action="AXIS_RIGHT_BRAKE_SET" Scale="-18" Nullzone="82"/>
<Axis ID="Rudder" Action="Set_Yaw" Scale="64" Nullzone="36"/>
</GameMode>
"
original
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...ad.php?t=32327
tip from ndicki
Editing Shaders.xml to get shiny aircraft
Hi,
here is the link to the thread where I've uploaded information about this: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...ad.php?t=31460
NB: Shaders.xml can also be adited to achieve all sorts of other things, like allowing fog to show together with clouds. Awesome discusses this in one of the threads attached to the above link.
D
To Enable Fog in your Skybox with Heavy Couds.
Originally Posted by: AWESOME On 08-22-04 @ 14:51 (Before the Site Attack)
Transcribed by CADFather from a PDF posted by Daiwilletti
Open the shaders.xml and follow the instructions noted in Bold/Italics and save the file as with any changes you make to the program back up your original file first)
<FoggedSkybox Desc=”for Rendering fogged skybox”
Lighting=”False” SpecularEnable=”True”
SrcBlend=”SrcAlpha” DestBlend=”InvSrcAlpha”
ZEnable=”False” ZFunc=”LessEqual” ZWriteEnable=”False” ZBias=”0” FogEnable=”True” (Change ZEnable=”False” to ZEnable=”True”)
AlphaBlendEnable=”False” AlphaTestEnable=”False” AlphaRef=”0” MultiSample=”True” (Change AlphaBlendEnable=”False” to AlphaBlendEnable=”True”)
ColorArg10+”Diffuse” ColorOp0=”SelectArg1” ColorArg20=”Diffuse”
MinFilter0=”Linear” MagFilter0=”Linear” AddessU0=”Clamp” AddressV0=”Clamp” Texture0=“0”/>
More Transparent Smoke (Doesn’t Look So Solid)
Originally Posted by: AWESOME On 08-22-04 @ 14:51 (Before the Site Attack)
Transcribed by CADFather from a PDF posted by Daiwilletti
(Open the shaders.xml and follow the instructions noted in Bold/Italics and save the file as with any changes you make to the program back up your original file first)
<Add Desc=”Additive blending for special effects”
Lighting=”True” SpecularEnable=”True” (Change Lighting=”True” To Lighting=”False” and SpecularEnable=”True” To SpecularEnable=”False”)
SrcBlend=”One” DestBlend=”One”
ZEnable=”True” ZFunc=”LessEqual” ZWriteEnable=”False” ZBias=”0” MultiSample=”True”
ColorArg10=”Texture” ColorOp0=”Modulate” ColorArg20=”Diffuse”
AlphaArg10=”Texture” AlphaOp0=”Modulate” AlphaArg20=”Diffuse”
MinFilter0=”Linear” MagFilter0=”Linear” AddressU0=”Wrap” AddressV0=”Wrap” Texture0=”0”