Scenes from the ETO (Expansion) - Spitfires

[33lima]

Finding the excellent new Spit II package here after seeing MajorMagee's super screenies over at SimHQ prompted me to fire up CFS3 again in the guise of my ETO Expansion install, which I hadn't flown for a while, save for flying a Belfast Blitz mission to 'commemorate' the real event.


So posting now enabled by the Powers That Be, I thought I'd put up some pics of my own to record my appreciation for the new Spit and for the ETO expansion in general. It's still CFS3 under the hood with possibly the worst map ever on a PC flightsim and an ambitions but ultimately somewhat soul-less dynamic campaign, but especially with Ankor's mod, it still looks good and is fun to play.

So without further ado, I set off on the Convoy Hell mission for the new Spit.

Here I am, one of seven Spitfires scrambled to cover a convoy that's under threat of air attack. I'm basically tail-end Charlie, not the leader.



Off I go! Not sure which airfield this is. Hawkinge, maybe? Although it's further east, a bit closer to the location of the old WW1 base at Walmer.



The others are racing ahead and I turn after them, with the port of Ramsgate in the background.



I gain a bit of height in the turn, checking my instruments as I go.



Cutting across country on the indicated vector (this is where turning the TAC on and off comes in handy) I'm soon nearing the coast by Dover...



...then out over the cool green waters of the English Channel.



...to be continued!

[33lima]

There's the convoy!



So round I go. I'm still well behind the other six Spitfires...



...but I'm too busy admiring my own kite to worry much about that. Suddenly, R/T chatter indicates something is up, confirmed by a quick look at the TAC.



I latch on to what I can see is a Stuka, which is threatening the convoy and ignoring the Ack Ack fire that's suddenly sprung up.



Got him!



Yes, no doubt about that one.



...to be continued!

[33lima]

Ooops! One of the ships has caught a packet!



So I find and attack another Hun, but don't make such a good job of it, this time.



Never mind! I'll settle for one of the escorts, who have suddenly decided to gate-crash the party.



Won't be long now, just need to pull the t*t and go for broke with the revs...



Oh no! His wingman's got me!



With a bit of luck, one of the ships will pick me up! Just maybe not that one.



Great fun, despite ending with an early bath! Thanks very much to all involved for a wonderful package and for the mission!

[Flamingskull5000]

Very sharp! Are you running Ankor's shader package as well?

[33lima]

Thanks and yes, I certainly am, I would not be without Ankor's mod - now using the Dec 2019 version.

[mongoose]

Impressive! I do like the channel sea colour. What water are you using? Are the starter generators on the other ac in pic 1 standard or something you did? I haven't seen that whole setup before.

[33lima]

Thanks Mongoose! Not sure about the water - not something I sought out I think, so probably either came with the ETO (up to 1.50 here), or with Ankor's shaders.

The airfield is ETO Hawkinge - I just checked in a QC free flight and it's all there including the trolley acks, so not something that came with the mission. I installed the ETO years ago but I'm fairly certain that apart from the odd plane, mission and Ankor's shaders, it's stock - if you can call something that adds so hugely to a sim 'stock'. This is with the era set to Battle of Britain, and I understand the airfields change with the era, so this scene may well look somewhat different later in the war.

[Bravo/4]

Nice! It's good to see it being enjoyed.

[gecko]

Nice! It's good to see it being enjoyed.

Agreed! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[alcanallen]

Very nice,the sea looks great using Ankors unfortunately my rig stutters and stops momentarily using Ankors but i soldier on with what iv`e got.



OS Windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Mother board Gigabyte B85M-HD3
Procesor i5-4670@3.4 GZh
Ram 8 Gig
G Card AMD Radeon HD 9200
Monitor Samsung 22inch ToC 50000 Pix
Display 1920x1080 32bit
Stick Cyborg V1

alcanallen.

[sdsbolt]

very nice pics and mission description.

are you able to run the RS module?

[33lima]

Haven't tried the RS module yet - that's what adds clickable cockpits, isn't it? Not really into those - I tend to find that either I get left behind on the airfield or I get shot down, when mouse-ing around in a virtual cockpit!

[gecko]

It does add the clickable cockpit, but you don't have to use that feature. The key commands still work just fine, and there will be a few new ones as well. I find that I use a mixture of mouse clicks and key commands when I fly it - whatever feels most natural. The main thing the RS module does is to add the systems and engine management unique to the Spitfire as well as loads of new sound effects in the cockpit, instead of using the generic setup common to every other CFS3 aircraft. So you get things like a realistic pneumatic brake system, a working radiator, detailed gunsight operation, fully animated cockpit controls, making the head tilt axis work if you're using track IR, and quite a few other features.

[mongoose]

In other words; more realistic!

[Pat Pattle]

Nice pics!

Not sure which airfield this is. Hawkinge, maybe? Although it's further east, a bit closer to the location of the old WW1 base at Walmer

M$ got the location wrong for Hawkinge (and many others!) Unfortunately there were a few corrected locations that were omitted when the ETO global layer was compiled and this was one of them.

From the BoB global_layer.csv file the location should be: N51*07'51.6200 E1*9'52.4000 338 141 (the last 2 entries being angle and altitude). It's fairly easy to correct, you just need the compiling tool from the Terrain SDK.

This was my inspiration for that Hawkinge scene btw:

[33lima]

...and a very good likeness you have created too, Pat, outstanding!

I wonder if that pic was taken prior to or as part of the photo shoot that produced the well-known pics of 610's Spits in flight (though undated one caption seen says they were operating from Biggin). Either way, I suspect that the pic at Hawkinge was taken before the Battle, as I doubt very much that valuable combat aircraft would have been bunched up in such a fashion when the Luftwaffe was sitting ready across the Channel. As opposed to operating from their Flight dispersals, even if on the highest state of readiness. The in-flight pics seem most reliably dated to about June, and in Peter Jacob's 11 Group Airfields, the Hawkinge pic is said to be July, which would tend to support that.

[rince33]

I'm glad you enjoyed my mission, here are another two bob era spitII missions . One is an attack on Dover and is a rework of one of Rob Ruff's missions for stock cfs3. Ive adapted it for Eto and you fly as wingman. The other mission is one of mine and features 20+ bombers in a single formation as well as a fighter escort. You fly as wingman and formation is close. Ive had to use many waypoints to enable the squadron to gradually gain altitude so that it is possible for you to keep up with them. If you lose them do a quick warp. If these missions dont work please let me know. Ankors shaders and the new spit have motivated me to rework some of the old Bob mission packs. https://www.mediafire.com/file/9nlq6...b_miss.7z/file

[33lima]

Thanks for that Rince33, downloaded both and will post some more reports when I've played them!